This Friday, the Supreme Court validated the ban on the social network in the United States from January 19. The ByteDance platform may no longer be accessible in the country if it is not sold by then.
The threat had been looming for several days and the sanction was confirmed. Friday January 17, the Supreme Court, in other words the highest American court, ruled that TikTok could very soon be banned in the United States. In detail, jurists unanimously approved the entry into force of a law threatening to ban the social network, specifies The World.
This law aims to prevent the risks of espionage and manipulation by the Chinese authorities of TikTok users. Suspicions that fuel the sinews of war between the United States and China. However, the judges ruled that “For more than 170 million Americans, TikTok provides an important way of expression, interaction and community. But Congress determined that its divestment was necessary to address its well-founded concerns about national security.”
Towards the end of TikTok in the United States?
In fact, the ban on the social network in the United States raises many questions. On the one hand, no information concerning the implementation of such a system has been communicated. As rightly pointed out CNN, “There is no precedent for the US government blocking a major social media platform.”
For now, only one date remains pending, that of January 19. The law approved by Congress requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell its shares in the American branch of the social network by January 19, 2025. If this is not the case, TikTok will be banned from use in the United States. Several personalities recently announced their desire to buy TikTok, like Elon Musk, recalls BFMTV.
The future of TikTok in the hands of Donald Trump
On Friday, Joe Biden’s government announced that it would delegate the rest of the matter to the Trump administration, which will take up office on January 20, the day after the ban on TikTok in the country. Moments after the congressional deliberations, President-elect Donald Trump learned of the judges’ choice and said he had spoken on the phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping. According to CNN, the American president claimed that they had “a great discussion on TikTok and a great discussion on many other topics.”
If the law is implemented on January 19, TikTok would become the first social network to be banned in the United States. Millions of users of the platform would thus be forced to migrate to other social networks such as Historical X, Facebook and Instagram, or newcomers like Mastodon, Bluesky or Xiaohongshu / RedNote.