TikTok Ban: Supreme Court Upholds Law Barring App From The U.S.—Here’s Everything We Know

TikTok Ban: Supreme Court Upholds Law Barring App From The U.S.—Here’s Everything We Know

The Supreme Court sided against TikTok on Friday, upholding the law forcing the app’s sale or ban in the U.S. on Jan. 19 while President-elect Donald Trump signaled he may try to intervene.

January 17, 2025 The Supreme Court ruled the law does not violate the First Amendment rights of the app and its users, upholding the federal government’s national security argument and leaving TikTok open to a ban on Jan. 19 unless it is sold to an American company.

January 17, 2025 Trump, who has shown public support for keeping TikTok in the U.S., said the court’s decision was “expected” and that his decision on the app “will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation.”

January 16, 2025 The Biden administration does not plan to intervene against the law forcing TikTok’s ban or sale by Jan. 19, according to multiple outlets, one day after NBC News reported Biden’s team was “exploring options” on how it can avoid the app being shut down—though ABC reports Biden also won’t take action to enforce the ban against app stores or internet providers.

January 16, 2025 Schumer said it is “clear that more time is needed to find an American buyer,” noting Senate Democrats’ failed attempt to pass a bill extending the Jan. 19 deadline and urging lawmakers for a solution that keeps TikTok in the U.S. while also protecting Americans’ data privacy (the law banning TikTok unless China-based parent company ByteDance sells the app passed on a bipartisan basis last year).

January 15, 2025 Trump—who takes office one day after TikTok is banned—is considering an executive order to suspend the ban’s enforcement for two to three months, The Washington Post reported.

January 15, 2025 TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration, according to The New York Times.

January 14, 2025 ByteDance would likely expect $40 billion to $50 billion for the platform’s U.S. operations, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives estimated (other analysts have offered a range of figures for how much TikTok is worth, depending on whether the deal includes TikTok’s powerful content algorithm).

January 13, 2025 Chinese government officials have considered selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to Trump-allied billionaire Elon Musk if the Supreme Court does not stop the ban from going through on Jan. 19, reported Bloomberg, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter—though the people noted the deliberations are preliminary and officials prefer to keep TikTok under the ownership of China-based developer ByteDance (ByteDance told Forbes it “can’t be expected to comment on pure fiction” when asked about the Bloomberg report).

January 10, 2025 The Supreme Court heard oral arguments over the law requiring TikTok to be sold to a U.S. company or face a ban, with justices appearing “inclined” to uphold the law after appearing satisfied with its focus on the controversial Chinese ownership of the app’s parent company, according to The New York Times.

January 9, 2025 Billionaire Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty announced a proposal to buy TikTok’s U.S. operations—but not its algorithm—by migrating American users to a locally run digital infrastructure, a deal McCourt has suggested could be worth $20 billion, with interest from other investors like “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary (it’s unclear whether ByteDance is considering the offer).

January 6, 2025 O’Leary, part of The People’s Bid for TikTok, told Fox News’ Martha MacCallum he planned to buy the app and that he would need Trump’s help to do so.

January 3, 2025 The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to uphold the law forcing the ban or sale of TikTok despite Trump’s support of the app, arguing TikTok has not shown enough to reason to justify a pause of the law’s date of taking effect and that Trump has not presented a viable argument for a pause.

December 27, 2024 Trump opposed the potential ban of TikTok in a court filing, arguing if the Supreme Court intervenes, he could secure a “political resolution” after his Jan. 20 inauguration that would keep the app in the U.S.

December 18, 2024 The Supreme Court announced it will review TikTok’s challenge against the federal law that could potentially ban the app, scheduling oral arguments for Jan. 10—just days before the law is set to become effective.

December 16, 2024 TikTok requested an injunction from the Supreme Court that would block the ban against it until the conservative majority court rules on TikTok’s legality or dismisses the case, saying the pause would “create breathing room for this Court to conduct an orderly review … before this vital channel for Americans to communicate with their fellow citizens and the world is closed.”

December 16, 2024 Chew met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, according to CNN, and argued an injunction from the Supreme Court, which was ultimately not granted, would give Trump’s TikTok-friendly administration time to comment on the matter.

December 6, 2024 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied TikTok’s petition to review the law against TikTok after the court’s three-judge panel said national security concerns outweigh TikTok’s First Amendment rights, later declining TikTok’s request to halt its ruling upholding the law.

May 14, 2024 Eight TikTok users sued the federal government, accusing them of First Amendment violations and calling the ban “unconstitutionally overbroad.”

May 7, 2024 TikTok filed suit against the federal government, challenging the constitutionality of the ban and arguing the app and its American users were having their First Amendment rights violated.

April 24, 2024 President Joe Biden signed the bill requiring TikTok to be sold or banned, provoking a response from the platform, which claimed in a statement it “invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation.”

April 23, 2024 The Senate voted 80-19 to pass the bill, which Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said was done to “prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our U.S. government personnel.”

April 20, 2024 The House in an overwhelming 360-58 vote passed the legislation against TikTok, with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., saying in a statement the legislation was “designed to address legitimate national security and privacy concerns.”

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