Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban

The Supreme Court has Upheld The law that will effectively ban TikTok on Sunday, January 19. The decision marks the end of TikTok A legal battle lasted months Against a law that essentially forces the ByteDance-owned app to shut down unless it divests its US operations.

Starting Sunday, it will be illegal for app stores and internet hosting services to distribute the social network. TikTok warned that the app would simply do that “Darkness” on Sunday, but it is unclear what exactly will happen once the ban goes into effect.

The decision comes days after TikTok She pleaded her case before the highest court in the countryArguing that the law conflicts with the First Amendment to the Constitution, and that the social network needs additional time to allow President-elect Donald Trump to act to save the app. During the hearing, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said the law does not violate the First Amendment because it is not intended to regulate free speech on the platform or its algorithm. The Justice Department also argued that the Chinese government could force ByteDance to secretly hand over the data of millions of Americans.

Throughout the legal battle, TikTok argued that divesting the app’s US operations would be impossible because China would block the export of the social network’s algorithm. The company also claimed that TikTok will be a completely different service with a different algorithm.

President Biden signed the Sell or Ban Act in April 2024. The bill came after years of US government allegations that TikTok’s ties with China pose a national security risk and that it discloses sensitive information about Americans to the Chinese government.

More to come. Update for updates.