Under the law that will take effect on January 19, 2025, TikTok will be banned in the US if it does not divest all of its Chinese capital. The day after that is the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

The US Supreme Court will hear arguments on this law from both sides on January 10, 2025.

tiktok bloomberg
TikTok's fate will be decided early next year. Photo: Bloomberg

TikTok asked the Supreme Court to hear the case after an appeals court rejected a request to temporarily block the law, leaving the app’s fate in the U.S. in the hands of the Supreme Court.

TikTok has also appealed to Mr Trump, who has said he will “save” the platform to maintain competition with Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta. According to FT sources, CEO Shou Zi Chew met with Mr Trump at his home earlier this week.

The president-elect has publicly said he has a “warm place” in his heart for the app, crediting part of his victory to his use of TikTok.

Still, it’s unclear what mechanism Trump would use to block a TikTok ban or what the app would have to do to address all the national security concerns from lawmakers.

Selling TikTok to an American buyer would be difficult, and China would oppose it. TikTok currently has about 170 million users in the US.

The app argues that if banned, small businesses would lose more than $1 billion in revenue in the following month and content creators would lose nearly $300 million.

(According to CNBC)