National News Desk, January 2025
TikTok appears to be barreling toward a ban in the United States after the Supreme Court appeared skeptical of its arguments that the law forcing it to divest or cease operations would violate free speech rights, leaving the popular app with few paths to survival. The Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision in the coming days with the Jan. 19 deadline quickly approaching. Without a stay or overturning of the bill, TikTok’s last hope to keep operating in the U.S. is the incoming Trump administration. President-elect Donald Trump has flipped his position on TikTok from his first time in office, advocating against the ban and even filing a legal brief with the Supreme Court asking it to temporarily keep the ban from going into effect and to avoid giving a definitive resolution. “Why would I want to get rid of TikTok?” Trump said in a social media post last week along with metrics of his reach on it.
TikTok’s attorneys also asked the high court to consider a temporary pause on the ban because of the change in administration. Litigator Noel Francisco said during Friday’s arguments that “we might be in a different world” once Trump returns to office. But Trump does not return to the White House until the day after TikTok’s deadline, raising questions about how he would be able to maneuver into saving the app from closing up shop in the U.S. Banning one of the most popular social media apps in operation has already created high political stakes and also presents major economic consequences for the company and its users.
