As the TikTok ban in the US comes closer, over 170 million users are worried about what will happen next.
According to Independent, if the US Supreme Court does not make any changes to the bipartisan law, the video-sharing app will “go dark” across America on January 19, 2025.
Just nine days before the ban, the highest court of the US heard arguments on the final plea of ByteDance and TikTok to temporarily block the ban on January 10, 2025.
During the hearing, most of the arguments appeared inclined to rule against TikTok. Justice Elena Kagan during the hearing on Friday said, “The law is only targeted at this foreign corporation, which doesn’t have First Amendment rights.”
Meanwhile, TikTok and its supporters argued that the app has already taken significant steps to protect US users’ data and that banning the app would infringe on free speech and affect the livelihood of millions of people.
But if the US Supreme Court does not stop the ban, then what will happen next?
As per the law passed by the US Congress, using the TikTok app on the phone would not become a crime because it would force intermediary companies such as Apple and Google, which control the iOS and Android apps, to stop giving users access to TikTok.
The law states, “It shall be unlawful for an entity to distribute, maintain, or update, or enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of, a foreign adversary-controlled application.”
It is speculated that if the app got banned on January 19, it would stay on the users' phones who have already downloaded it, but it would “go dark.”
