The fate of TikTok has been a source of anxiety for its users and influencers during the lengthy deliberations involving lawmakers and judicial authorities regarding the app’s future. As of now, the situation has reached a critical point, yet questions about TikTok’s future remain unresolved.
On Friday, the Supreme Court affirmed a federal statute that prohibits the widely popular social media platform from operating starting Sunday, unless its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., based in China, arranges for a sale to an approved buyer.
The unanimous decision concluded a legal dispute balancing national security worries against First Amendment rights. TikTok, along with ByteDance and a loyal user base that depends on the platform for entertainment, income, and community engagement, contended that the law infringed on free speech rights. Meanwhile, the Biden administration argued that TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance posed an intolerable security risk.
However, the Supreme Court’s ruling does not guarantee the complete resolution of the TikTok issue, which has become a part of the broader conflict between the United States and China. A Biden administration official mentioned on Thursday that they would leave the law’s application — and potential execution — to President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump will assume office the day after the ban is to take effect and has previously credited TikTok with attracting support from younger voters during the last election cycle. An adviser for Trump indicated this week that the new administration would implement measures to prevent TikTok from shutting down, though specifics about these measures and their feasibility remained unclear.
Examining how TikTok evolved into a global cultural sensation reveals the dynamics surrounding its commercial triumph.
Launched in 2016 by ByteDance, a technology company established in 2012 by entrepreneur Zhang Yiming, TikTok followed the introduction of Douyin, a similar platform targeted at Chinese users. Following its launch, ByteDance acquired Musical.ly, a popular lip-syncing app among American and European teens, which was merged into TikTok while remaining separate from its Chinese counterpart.
The app quickly soared in popularity across the United States and beyond, marking the first notable success of a Chinese platform in Western markets. Unlike other social media networks that prioritize building connections among users, TikTok focused on personalizing content based on individual interests. Its light-hearted videos and music clips created a perception of a cheerful space where users could find entertainment and a sense of belonging. The platform also helped launch careers for artists like Lil Nas X.
The pandemic further bolstered TikTok’s growth as users engaged with viral dance challenges, prompting competitors like Instagram and YouTube to develop short-form video features, known as Reels and Shorts respectively. By this point, TikTok had solidified its status as a runaway success.
Despite its achievements, TikTok faced scrutiny as concerns regarding its ownership arose. U.S. officials raised alarms about Chinese regulations mandating that Chinese firms provide data to the government, leading to worries about TikTok’s algorithm that dictates user feeds.
During his presidency, Trump initiated executive orders in 2020 to ban TikTok and WeChat, although these measures were later halted by the courts. India also banned TikTok and various other Chinese applications in the same year, following a deadly skirmish at the border with China.
In a shift, the Biden administration rescinded Trump’s orders in 2021 but maintained a national security assessment of TikTok conducted by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
From early 2021 until mid-2022, TikTok engaged in significant discussions with the Biden administration regarding its presence in the U.S. This dialogue led to a 90-page draft security agreement proposed to CFIUS, although substantive negotiations ceased afterward. The agreement aimed to ensure U.S. user data remained inaccessible to China and allowed for security checks of TikTok’s U.S. operations. TikTok asserted that it had already begun implementing this agreement, including routing U.S. user data to servers managed by Oracle.
In a lawsuit challenging the sell-or-ban law, TikTok announced it had invested over $2 billion to implement its strategy, dubbed Project Texas. However, government officials argued that the plan did not sufficiently isolate TikTok’s operations from China, claiming that the complexity of the platform made it difficult to ensure compliance with the security measures.
In February 2023, the White House mandated the removal of TikTok from government devices, reflecting decisions made by several other nations to ban the app on official electronics. Shortly after, TikTok CEO Shou Chew faced an extensive interrogation from lawmakers, who expressed concerns over user safety and the platform’s ties to China.
The last recorded meeting between TikTok representatives and CFIUS took place in September 2023, while criticism against TikTok intensified among Republican lawmakers who alleged that the app promoted anti-Israel content, an assertion the platform denied.
Legislative efforts to ban TikTok re-emerged in Congress early last year and quickly garnered bipartisan support, with concerns raised about the potential for the app to surveil and manipulate users. The law upheld by the Supreme Court progressed through the House and Senate in April, as part of a substantial $95 billion foreign aid package. President Biden promptly enacted the law, leading to a swift legal response from both ByteDance and a cohort of content creators.
A lower court upheld the statute in December, granting ByteDance nine months to divest from TikTok, with a possible additional three-month extension if a sale was in progress. The timing of the deadline aligns closely with Trump’s inauguration, complicating the situation. Only the current president possesses the authority to issue a 90-day stay on the ban, contingent on a buyer taking substantial steps toward buying the platform.
Experts believe that while existing users may retain access to TikTok, new users will be unable to download the app, and future updates will be unavailable, eventual rendering it inoperable as per Justice Department filings in court.
