A breath of fresh air for the most downloaded social network in the world. TikTok was preparing to stop its activities in the United States on Sunday January 19. Downloading this application, particularly popular with young people for its ultra-short video formats which scroll continuously, should perhaps no longer be possible on American soil.
Urgently seized in December by the Chinese parent company of TikTok, ByteDance, the American Supreme Court unanimously approved Friday, January 17, the entry into force of this law threatening an imminent ban on the American activities of the social network. The Court's nine justices concluded that the challenged law did not violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression. The law, which was to come into force on Sunday, therefore sets a deadline of January 19 for ByteDance to transfer the application to another non-Chinese owner, under penalty of ban in the United States.
Except that. This Friday, January 17, Joe Biden announced that he would leave it to President-elect Donald Trump to decide on the application of the law banning TikTok. Invested in the White House on Monday January 20, Donald Trump, who had promised to save the platform, announced that he had “need time” to decide the fate of the Chinese social network. The application of the law will be spread over time, the American Department of Justice immediately confirmed.
With more than 170 million users in the United States, TikTok could therefore survive thanks to the intervention of President-elect Donald Trump. The general director of the network Shou Zi Chew was also invited to his inauguration, where he will occupy a place of honor, affirms the New York Times.
Is the rescue of the Chinese platform on American soil a given or does it only benefit from a reprieve? A look back at the case in five questions.
Why was TikTok banned in the United States?
In April 2024, Congress adopted a text forcing TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to sell its American activities by January 19, under penalty of banning the social network in the United States. American elected officials justify this decision by fears of seeing the data and content of American users exploited by the Chinese authorities, suspected of espionage. The law plans to force internet providers and app stores to prevent TikTok from being downloaded after the deadline.
Where is the ban procedure?
TikTok and ByteDance have always refuted having granted access to the social network's data to the Chinese government. Thus, ByteDance has so far systematically refused to sell TikTok, even if several American investors have positioned themselves, first and foremost businessman Frank McCourt, ready to put $20 billion on the table.
Part of the platform's fate rested with the Supreme Court, urgently seized in mid-December 2024 by the group to block the application of the law. At the hearing which took place on Friday January 10, several magistrates of the highest American court seemed sensitive to the arguments linked to national security raised by Congress. The Supreme Court's decision therefore fell this Friday, January 17, confirming the ban on the network in the United States, as of Sunday, January 19.
But in the wake of this decision, Joe Biden's government said it would leave it to Donald Trump's team to decide whether or not to apply the law banning the social network TikTok, while the future president said he had “need time” to rule. In the process, the US Department of Justice confirmed that the application would be postponed. “This legislation seeks to cut ties between TikTok and the government in Beijing in a manner consistent with the Constitution. The next phase of this objective – implementing the law and ensuring compliance with it after it comes into force on January 19 – is a process that will unfold over time.
How could the shutdown of the platform take place?
If the ban was maintained, users who had already downloaded the application would no longer be able to open it, and would be automatically directed to a message relating to the new legislative provisions. They would be offered to download their data and content published on the platform. Those who do not yet have the application will not be able to download it.
In an internal message sent to TikTok teams, management affirmed that it “prepared for several scenarios”. She also assured the group's American employees that “their employment, salary and benefits” would have been preserved regardless of the path chosen by TikTok.
-What are still the possible scenarios?
The ban. After the reprieve won this Friday, January 17 by the Chinese platform, the American government could force mobile application stores to remove the social network from their catalog. As the platform is still accessible elsewhere than in the United States, American Internet users who wish to continue to have access to it could use a VPN, software which allows sites and application stores to be deceived about their geographical location.
@liberation.fr ???? Suspected of espionage by Washington, the TikTok application risks disappearing from American territory on January 19 if it does not find a buyer. Faced with this, many content creators are moving to the Chinese social network Xiaohongshu (“little red book”). ???? Emanuel Descours Libération Social Networks
♬ original sound – Libération – Libération
Resale. Until now, ByteDance had opposed the idea of selling its jewel but, according to the Bloomberg agency, the Chinese government would be open to a takeover by Elon Musk, already majority shareholder of the social network . But TikTok had qualified this scenario on Monday January 13 as «pure fiction». Other candidates have declared themselves, such as businessman Frank McCourt, owner of the Olympique de Marseille football club, who estimates the value of TikTok US at $20 billion. The former boss of video game publisher Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, would also be interested.
User migration. Many of the content creators have already migrated to other platforms, such as YouTube and Instagram, with the first threats to TikTok's future dating back almost five years, during the first Trump administration. In recent days, creators have also found refuge on the Chinese application Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), likely to also be targeted by the American authorities for the same reasons as TikTok.
In which countries is TikTok already banned?
In Albania, TikTok must close for at least a year starting in early 2025. In announcing the suspension at the end of 2024, Prime Minister Edi Rama called the app a “neighborhood thug”. The decision came less than a month after a 14-year-old student was killed and another injured in a brawl near a school in the capital Tirana, which occurred after a conflict on social media.
In November, Nepal banned TikTok because its content would harm “social harmony” of the nation, the government declared. According to the authorities, the content published on the network fuels religious hatred and violence while encouraging sexual abuse.
In India too, the platform was banned, just like 200 Chinese applications, after a deadly clash between the Chinese and Indian armies in the Himalayas in June 2020. According to the Indian government, these applications compromised sovereignty, security and national integrity. TikTok thus lost its largest market, then estimated at more than 120 million active users per month.
Same ban in Afghanistan in April 2022, after the Taliban return to power. Jordan followed a few months later, officially for security reasons. Pakistan has temporarily banned the app at least four times since October 2020.
Update : Friday January 17, with the confirmation by the American Supreme Court of the ban on TikTok in the United States from Sunday January 19, unless the Chinese parent company of the social network sells its American activities by then; at 5:30 p.m. with the reprieve granted by Biden to the Chinese social network.
