US Supreme Court Orders TikTok Ban by Sunday

According to a ruling by the US Supreme Court, TikTok should be outlawed in the US by Sunday if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, does not sell it.

President Donald Trump will have the last say on what to do when his term starts on Monday since Biden has stated he will not enforce the ban for the remaining hours he is in office.

Our response to the Supreme Court decision:https://t.co/xSkvkOgpuV

— TikTok Policy (@TikTokPolicy) January 17, 2025

The White House stated in a statement following the decision that Americans should continue to have access to TikTok.

“TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” the White House said.

Concerns that ByteDance, the parent firm of TikTok, would provide the Chinese government with information about American people sparked discussions over the app’s potential ban. The proprietors of TikTok insisted that they have no plans to do so, though.

Americans have started downloading RedNote, or Xiaohongshu (literally Little Red Book), a well-known Chinese social media program that lacks the typical internet firewall that divides China from the rest of the world, in an attempt to retaliate against the government.

“The reason that our government is telling us that they are banning TikTok is because they’re insisting that it’s owned by you guys, the Chinese people, government, whatever,” said one new RedNote user, Definitelynotchippy.

She added, “A lot of us are smarter than that, though, so we decided to piss off our government and download an actual Chinese app. We call that trolling, so in short, we’re here to spite our government and to learn about China and hang out with you guys.”

A U.S. official notes, however, that RedNote, just like TikTok, could face an ultimatum to divest or be banned.

Business Day