TikTok will soon go dark for 170 million American users barring an 11th-hour development.
TikTok‘s Chinese parent company ByteDance has until Sunday to sell the platform under federal legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden last spring. If the Beijing-based company fails to do so, TikTok will be banned in the U.S., making it illegal for U.S. internet hosting services and app stores to distribute the platform. The legislation comes amid concerns by some government officials who believe the platform is a national security threat, as ByteDance could be sharing U.S. user data with the Chinese government.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments last week from TikTok, which claims the ban is an unconstitutional breach of Americans’ First Amendment rights. The platform asked the Supreme Court to put a halt on the ban. As of Thursday morning, SCOTUS had not released a decision.
President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office on Monday, Jan. 20, the day after the ban is to be set in place. Though he previously supported a ban on the platform, Trump asked SCOTUS last month to put a hold on the deadline to give his incoming administration “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.”
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Trump is considering an executive order that would halt the ban for 60 to 90 days, and USA TODAY was looking into the report.
As we inch closer to the ban, here’s what to know about the situation, how users will be impacted and who has expressed interest in purchasing the platform.