What happens with TikTok in the US now that the ban on using the social network will come into effect

However, the Supreme Court determined that the law banning the social media platform does not violate the right to free speech protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution and upheld its ban.

But can the decision by the country’s highest judicial authority really stop Americans from using it?

President-elect Donald Trump says TikTok’s future depends on him.

And the White House alleges that “as a matter of simple timing,” the process of implementing the law will fall to Trump, who is sworn in this Monday, January 20, the day after the ban takes effect.

So what will happen next?

Trump may have tried to ban TikTok at the time, but in 2024 he has repeatedly indicated that he is firmly against the law and has tried unsuccessfully to get it postponed.

Shortly after the Court’s ruling this Friday, the president-elect published a post on Truth Social in which he said that he will review the situation, but that everyone must respect the court’s decision.

“My decision on TikTok will be made in the not-too-distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!” he wrote.

Trump’s legal team already weighed in during the Supreme Court’s consideration of this case, asking the justices to delay the decision to give him time to find a solution.

On Friday, just before the court issued its ruling, Trump said he had spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping about TikTok as well as trade-related issues.

“I hope we solve many problems together, starting immediately,” he posted on social media.

And on Thursday, Trump’s incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz told Fox News that the president-elect was looking for ways to “preserve” TikTok, saying Americans’ access to the platform and their data would be preserved.

“I don’t want to get ahead of our executive orders, but we’re going to create the space to get that deal underway,” Waltz said.

The Biden administration made clear it would not enforce the law, so another option would be for Trump to follow suit and allow the law to stand but tell the Justice Department to ignore it.

The government would effectively be telling Apple and Google that they will not be punished for continuing to allow people to download TikTok on their devices, meaning the law would remain in effect but would essentially be useless.

Obviously, companies may feel uncomfortable breaking the law even if they have been told it is okay, since it actually means accepting the president’s word that they will not face punishment.

If Trump can’t lift the TikTok ban, what will happen then?

The most likely way the United States would enforce the ban would be to order app stores to make it inaccessible for download in that region.

But although people can no longer use a legitimate means to access TikTok through digital stores, this will not affect those who already have the app on their phones.

Since the app will most likely no longer be available to the public, new updates will no longer be sent to users in the United States, making it more buggy and eventually unusable.

Not to mention, many updates are provided to fix app security holes, so if TikTok stopped receiving updates, hackers could have millions of devices to attack.

Of course, there are ways around this ban.

There are already many videos circulating on TikTok telling users how to use a VPN (virtual private network), a way to make it look like you’re in another region.

The region of the app stores can also be changed on most devices, so in theory anyone can access apps from other countries, although this can cause other problems, not to mention potentially violating the terms. of service agreements.

It is also possible to install applications downloaded from the internet by modifying a device, which may violate copyright law and carries its own risks.

However, the government has also anticipated this and is proposing to ban “internet hosting services” from giving people access to the app.

So, if the ban ends up taking this kind of form, it seems likely that those determined to use TikTok after it comes into effect will still be able to do so, but it won’t be the experience they’re used to.

The government has other avenues at its disposal in the future: for example, after India banned TikTok in 2020, it ordered internet providers to block access to the app entirely.

TikTok’s own lawyer told the Supreme Court that he believes the app will “go dark” in the United States.

Professor Milton L. Mueller of the Georgia Institute of Technology (who filed a legal brief in support of TikTok) said the complexity of the issue means even experts are unclear about what will happen next.

But he said what is clear is the impact it will have on users and the internet itself.

“It will totally legitimize the fragmentation of the internet along national or jurisdictional borders,” he said.

Until now, ByteDance has been firm in its stance on not selling its most prized asset in the United States.

But could that change with the ban? And what will happen when a president who prides himself on “his dealmaking” returns to the White House?

Potential buyers are still lining up: BloombergNews reported on Tuesday that the company was considering a sale to billionaire Elon Musk, although TikTok has described this as “pure fiction.”

Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire businessman Frank McCourt are among those who have previously expressed interest in purchasing it.

McCourt, former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, said he had secured $20 billion in verbal commitments from a consortium of investors to make a bid for TikTok.

There is an even more eccentric and considerably less serious proposed owner.

The world’s biggest YouTuber, MrBeast, has claimed that he is now in the race to close a deal after several billionaires contacted him about it.

Although it may seem like a joke, he has a significant financial incentive to try to save the app: MrBeast has more than 100 million followers on TikTok.

TikTok says it has 170 million users in the United States who, on average, spent 51 minutes per day on the app in 2024.

If TikTok is banned or made less usable, it creates a huge opportunity for its big tech rivals, says Jasmine Enberg, an analyst at Insider Intelligence.

“Meta-owned Instagram Reels and Google-owned YouTube Shorts are the most natural options for displaced users, creators, and advertisers,” he says.

Facebook could also benefit, although Enberg says that like all Meta platforms, the controversial policy changes announced by boss Mark Zuckerberg could potentially reduce its appeal.

Users bring in advertisers, so a ban could be a big financial boost for those platforms.

“CMOs we’ve spoken to confirmed that they will divert their media dollars to Meta and Google if they can no longer advertise on TikTok – this is the same behavior we saw in India when they banned TikTok in 2020,” said analyst Kelsey Chickering. main of Forrester.

Lemon8, which is also owned by ByteDance, would have been an obvious place for people to go after a ban, but the law stipulates that it also affects other apps owned or operated by the company.

This means Lemon8 will likely face the possibility of being inaccessible in the US as well.

Other potential winners include Twitch, which made a name for itself by hosting live streams, a popular feature on TikTok.

Twitch is well known particularly among video game fans, although it continues to grow with other types of content.

Other Chinese-owned platforms, such as Xiaohongshu, known as RedNote to its American users, have seen rapid growth in the US and UK.

Still, some suggest that no existing app can really replace TikTok, particularly its TikTok Shop feature, which allows users to buy products directly from videos and generates big money for American creators.

Craig Atkinson, CEO of digital marketing agency Code3, said there is no direct competitor that people can easily switch to, and notes that his agency is signing new contracts with clients to develop TikTok Shop campaigns through December.

Subscribe here to our new newsletter to receive a selection of our best content of the week every Friday.

And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.