On Jan. 17, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal law that bans TikTok in the United States. The ban will take effect Sunday, Jan. 19, unless ByteDance, the app’s China-based parent company, sells it. The Court determined that national security concerns about TikTok’s Chinese connections outweigh free speech considerations for both the app and its 170 million U.S. users.
ByteDance has said it won’t sell the short-form video platform, and TikTok’s attorney Noel Francisco stated a sale might never be possible under the conditions set in the law. Francisco urged the justices to enter a temporary pause that would allow TikTok to keep operating at least until after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Trump, who has 14.7 million TikTok followers, has promised to “save TikTok.” He also called for the deadline to be pushed back to give him time to negotiate a “political resolution.”
Senate Democrats tried to pass legislation on Jan. 15 that would have extended the deadline, but Republican Sen. Tom Cotton blocked it. Cotton, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that TikTok has had ample time to find a buyer.
A day before the Supreme Court ruling, a U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press that President Joe Biden will not enforce the ban, which is set to take effect the day before he leaves office, leaving TikTok’s fate in Trump’s hands. However, it’s currently unclear what options will be open to Trump once he is sworn in as president.
Recent online search trends show many people are wondering how the looming ban will affect their personal use of TikTok.
THE SOURCES
- National Security Act, 2024
- White House
- Press release issued by the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
- TikTok
- Dean Ball, a research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University
- Gus Hurwitz, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania with expertise in telecommunications and technology
QUESTION #1
Once the ban goes into effect, can U.S. users legally use TikTok?
THE ANSWER
Yes, current U.S. users could still legally use TikTok if the ban goes into effect because the ban is aimed at app stores, not individuals. But TikTok said it might shut the app down anyway on Jan. 19.
Some people on social media have wondered whether TikTok will immediately disappear from their phones if the looming ban goes into effect on Jan. 19. We can VERIFY that the social media app will not disappear from your phone if TikTok is banned.
Instead, the law prevents the app from being downloadable on Apple and Google’s app stores, meaning new users wouldn’t be able to download it. This also means TikTok wouldn’t be able to send updates, security patches and bug fixes, and over time the app would likely become unusable — not to mention a potential security risk.
“The TikTok bill relies heavily on the control that Apple and Google maintain over their smartphone platforms because the bill’s primary mechanism is to direct Apple and Google to stop allowing the TikTok app on their respective app stores,” Dean Ball, a research fellow with the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, told The Associated Press.
If Apple and Google don’t remove TikTok from their app stores, the companies could be fined $5,000 per existing user.
TikTok says it plans to shut down the social media site in the U.S. by Jan. 19 unless the Supreme Court strikes down or otherwise delays the effective date of the law. In India, which banned TikTok in 2020, users are blocked from accessing the app and see a screen that says “Service not available,” according to the New York Times.
QUESTION #2
Will TikTok be accessible from an internet browser once it’s banned?
THE ANSWER
No, TikTok will not be accessible from an internet browser once it’s banned, but you may be able to use a VPN to access it online or update the app if it doesn’t work otherwise.
If the TikTok ban goes into effect, web hosting companies will also be barred from hosting the website from an internet browser, according to the law. But many people on social media claim U.S. TikTok users could use a VPN, or a virtual private network, that allows users to mask their location to access it online.
A VPN encrypts your traffic data and then routes it through private tunnels to secure servers around the world, which prevents anyone else from being able to read it. However, if large droves of users do that, it’s possible that tech companies, such as Apple or Google, could recognize it as a legal liability and find other ways to clamp down on the app.
TikTok users with Android devices might also be able to continue to update their apps through third-party app stores, a method called sideloading. But bypassing the security protocols that well-known app stores have in place might also leave users more vulnerable to malware, according to Gus Hurwitz, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania with expertise in telecommunications and technology.
QUESTION #3
Will TikTok users be punished for using a VPN to access the app once it’s banned?
THE ANSWER
No, TikTok users will not be punished for using a VPN to access the app once it’s banned.
Some social posts suggest there could be legal consequences, including jail time if a person uses a VPN to access TikTok once it’s banned in the U.S.
A specific provision in the law’s text says individual TikTok users cannot be prosecuted. A press release published in March 2024 by the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which sponsored the first iteration of the bill, also said the legislation would not punish individual social media users or regulate speech.
“No enforcement action can be taken against individual users of an impacted app,” the press release says.
The law specifically targets social media apps and websites that are controlled by foreign adversaries of the U.S. that “pose an unacceptable risk to U.S. national security.” Those foreign adversaries, which are defined in Title 10 of the U.S. Code, include China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
“This bill only applies to specifically defined social media apps subject to the control of foreign adversaries, as defined by Congress,” the press release says.
TikTok has denied assertions that it could be used as a tool of the Chinese government. The company has also said it has never shared U.S. user data with Chinese authorities and won’t do so if it’s asked.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story is also available in Spanish / Lee este artículo también en español: Verificamos lo que una prohibición de TikTok significa para tí
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