“TikTok will unfortunately be forced to close on January 19”, i.e. this Sunday, the popular application announced on United States unless its Chinese owner agrees to sell it. TikTok has been fighting for months against this law adopted last March by Congress in the name of national security. But the US Supreme Court refused on Friday to suspend it, sealing the fate of the social network in the country, barring last minute intervention.
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers an important mode of expression, interaction and belonging to a community,” said the nine senior magistrates, unanimously. “But Congress determined that its divestment was necessary to address its well-founded national security concerns,” they observed.
The decision of the highest American court came just over 36 hours before the limit imposed by Congress on TikTok’s parent company, the Chinese group ByteDance, to sell its subsidiary. The law theoretically requires internet service providers and application stores to block downloads and updates from midnight on the night of Saturday to Sunday. The main ones, contacted by AFP, did not respond. The White House estimated that “the application of the law (must) return to the next government, which will take office on Monday”, according to a statement from spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre.
“Need time”
The American Department of Justice, for its part, announced on Friday that the application of the law would be spread over time, which raises the question of its very short-term effects. “The statements released today by the White House and the Department of Justice have failed to provide the clarity and assurance needed by service providers who are integral to maintaining TikTok’s availability to more than 170 million of Americans”, indicated the Chinese social network, before warning that it would certainly be forced to display a black screen on Sunday.
Donald Trump has, on several occasions, said he is in favor of the application being preserved in the United States, and even pleaded to this effect to the Supreme Court, in vain. Friday, he stressed that the Court’s decision must be “respected”, but said he “needs time” to rule on the fate of the social network, promising a decision “in the fairly near future”.
The one who is due to take office Monday at noon discussed the fate of TikTok during a telephone conversation Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. A sign of Donald Trump’s openness towards young people’s favorite social network, the boss of TikTok, Shou Chew, is one of the guests of honor for his inauguration ceremony.
“I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to working with us to find a solution that allows TikTok to remain available in the United States,” Shou Chew said in a video posted to the platform on Friday. “We are going to put in place measures to prevent TikTok from turning off the lights” in the United States, assured Thursday, on the Fox News channel, the Republican elected to the House of Representatives Mike Waltz, appointed Security Advisor national by Donald Trump.
“Victory”
American elected officials adopted, in April 2024, this law intended to prevent Chinese authorities from accessing the data of users in the United States of the social network or from attempting to manipulate American opinion. ByteDance has so far systematically refused to sell TikTok, even if several American investors have positioned themselves, first and foremost businessman Frank McCourt, ready to put $20 billion on the table.
“Content creators on TikTok are preparing for a possible ban, in a context of great uncertainty,” explains Courtney Spritzer, boss of the digital marketing agency Socialfly, specializing in social networks. As for advertisers, “some are betting on an extinction (of the platform), while others are more optimistic and think that it will continue after Sunday,” she added.
The prospect of a possible disappearance of TikTok agitated the Internet, the three most downloaded applications on the Apple store being three video platforms, namely the Chinese Xiaohongshu, Lemon8, another subsidiary of ByteDance, and the American Clapper. TikTok itself was in the top 10.