Will the TikTok ban take effect Sunday? Could Trump save it? Here's where things stand on the app shutting down

The popular social media app TikTok will likely go dark for its 170 million American users this Sunday, Jan. 19, after months of fighting the federal government’s demand that it separate from its China-based parent company, ByteDance.

The Supreme Court heard arguments last week from TikTok and ByteDance, which argued that the ban is a violation of First Amendment rights and that the nation’s highest court should stop the ban. But as of Jan. 16, the justices have not issued a decision.

The day after the ban is scheduled to take place, President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into his second term of office — with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew expected to be in attendance — and has reportedly considered issuing an executive order that would halt the TikTok ban for up to 90 days.

As we inch closer to the federal ban on one of the most popular social media platforms, here’s what to know about the situation.

Why is TikTok being banned?

The federal government has argued that because TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, is based in China, the platform is a potential threat to national security. Therefore, TikTok could stay active in the U.S. if it separated from ByteDance and was sold to a U.S.-based company. ByteDance has said it has no plans to sell TikTok.

During the Supreme Court hearing on Jan. 10, Noel Francisco, the lawyer for TikTok and ByteDance, insisted that even though TikTok’s parent company is based in China, TikTok does not share any user data or personal information with ByteDance and that the Chinese government does not have any direct or indirect ownership or control over the company.

The Biden administration wrote in a Supreme Court brief that the law seeking to ban TikTok in the United States does not violate First Amendment rights because it was about separating the app from its parent company, which is similar to “approaches previously taken by Congress and the Executive Branch to address the national-security risks arising from foreign-owned commercial entities.”

Where the Supreme Court stands

As of Jan. 16, the Supreme Court has not issued a decision on whether to uphold the TikTok ban. If the justices don’t release a decision before Jan. 19, the ban will still go into effect on that day — but may not be permanent.

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the federal government like the federal appeals court did in December, then TikTok will be banned on Jan. 19. If the Supreme Court takes TikTok’s side, then the app will be allowed to remain available in the U.S. under ByteDance’s ownership.

Read more from Yahoo News: Key takeaways from the Supreme Court hearing on the potential TikTok ban

What will happen on Jan. 19 if TikTok is banned?

If you do not have TikTok on your phone by Jan. 19, you will not be able to download it once the ban takes effect. In December, the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and the Chinese Community Party wrote letters to Apple and Google — which own the two main mobile app stores — reiterating that they must remove TikTok from their stores when the ban takes effect.

The Department of Justice previously stated that if you are one of the 170 million current U.S.-based TikTok users, the ban will “not directly prohibit the continued use of TikTok” and won’t immediately eliminate the app from individuals’ phones. Instead, over time, without updates or technical help from TikTok, the app will slowly become “unworkable.”

However, Reuters reported on Wednesday, Jan. 15 that TikTok planned to shut down the app fully on Jan. 19. TikTok has not responded to Yahoo News’ request for comment.

In response to the news, the Biden administration is considering ways to prevent TikTok from being “suddenly banned on Sunday” in the U.S., an official told NBC News. The administration’s goal would be for the ban to go into effect on app stores on Jan. 19, but not immediately impact downloaded apps from functioning.

Some senators are fighting to extend the ban deadline

In a press conference on Jan. 16, Democratic Sens. Ed Markey and Cory Booker said they had asked the Biden administration to extend the TikTok ban deadline by 90 days.

“In no way should we have TikTok go dark Sunday,” Markey told reporters. “We’re willing to work with President Trump to try to extend this deadline as well.”

Booker said the TikTok ban was “crammed into, what we often call in Congress, a ‘must-pass bill,’” which is why it passed so quickly. The TikTok ban was part of a $95 billion foreign aid package that included funding for Ukrainian military equipment, humanitarian aid for Gaza and Taiwan and Israeli missile defense in addition to the TikTok ban. The Senate voted 79 to 18 in favor of the bill in April 2024; both Markey and Booker voted in favor.

“We did not have a debate in the Senate, we did not have hearings in the Senate,” Booker said. “It was, to me, a cynical effort to stick it into a bill that many of us would have to vote for because of the other high stakes.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who also voted in favor of the bill, called for an extension of the Jan. 19 deadline, saying in remarks on the Senate floor: “We aren’t against TikTok. We want TikTok to keep going. But we are against a Chinese company that is in cahoots with the Chinese Communist Party owning TikTok.”

All three senators said they've been in talks with the Biden administration on the situation and plan to work with the Trump administration once Trump takes office.

Trump now says he doesn't want to ban TikTok. Could he save it?

Trump has taken varying positions on TikTok. When he was president in August 2020, he threatened to ban the app if ByteDance didn’t sell it, but multiple federal judges blocked his attempts at the time. However, while running for reelection in 2024, he launched his own TikTok account and told followers that he would “SAVE TIK TOK IN AMERICA” if he won the election.

On Dec. 27, Trump filed a legal brief asking the Supreme Court to delay its decision on the TikTok ban until after he is officially in office on Jan. 20. The filing argues that the Supreme Court should allow Trump and his incoming administration to look into the political questions involved in the case, especially whether the ban is a violation of Americans’ First Amendment rights. The filing also argues that Trump could find an alternative solution to the national security concerns associated with ByteDance.

As recently as Jan. 3, Trump asked, “Why would I want to get rid of TikTok?”

However, he may not ultimately have a say in the matter, especially if the Supreme Court chooses not to block the ban from taking effect.

As of this reporting, the Supreme Court has not publicly responded to Trump’s filing nor have the justices made a decision. The Department of Justice publicly asked the justices to reject Trump’s filing, saying it took “no position” on the First Amendment debate, which is the foundation of TikTok and ByteDance’s argument.

Once president, can Trump save TikTok?

If the Supreme Court allows the ban to take effect on Jan. 19, is there anything Trump can do to reverse that decision once he is inaugurated on Jan. 20?

The law does include a provision that allows the president to pause the TikTok ban for 90 days if ByteDance proves it is in the process of selling the app, Forbes reported. Trump could try to pause the ban himself for the first 90 days of his administration, but without evidence that ByteDance is actively working to divest from TikTok, his decision could be challenged in court.

Another option would be for Trump to ask his Justice Department and attorney general not to enforce the ban, Alan Z. Rozenshtein, a former Justice Dept. national security adviser and an associate law professor at the University of Minnesota Law School wrote at Lawfare Media. However, in that case, most companies and individual users would probably be discouraged from using the app, since doing so would still technically be considered to be breaking the law.

The Washington Post reported on Jan. 15 that Trump is allegedly considering an executive order once he’s in office that would suspend the TikTok ban for 60 to 90 days so that his administration could either negotiate a sale or another solution to protect the app from being banned in the U.S.

However, it’s not clear whether issuing an executive order would counteract a law that Congress — and potentially the Supreme Court — approved.

"They’re just press releases with nicer stationery,” Rozenshtein, referring to executive orders. “TikTok will still be banned, and it will still be illegal for Apple and Google to do business with them. But it will make the president’s intention not to enforce the law that much more official.”

Does anyone want to buy TikTok?

The only way to avoid a full ban on TikTok in the U.S. is if ByteDance either sells the app or at least proves it’s trying to divest from the app.

Multiple American companies and entrepreneurs have offered to buy TikTok from ByteDance, including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner and Project Liberty founder Frank McCourt who, in December, pulled together a group of investors. One of those investors is Kevin O’Leary, a Shark Tank host, who told Yahoo Finance that the group is “willing to pay up to $20 billion” for the app. Project Liberty announced last week that it had formally submitted a proposal to ByteDance to buy TikTok.

YouTube’s most famous creator Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, posted on Jan. 15 that he had met with several billionaires and had “an offer ready” to buy TikTok. He did not share much information on who he was meeting with or what the plan looked like.

Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that Chinese government officials allegedly discussed selling TikTok to Elon Musk, who also owns X. Musk has not commented on the reports, but has publicly slammed the TikTok ban and said it was “contrary to freedom of speech and expression.”

Companies like Oracle, Walmart and Microsoft expressed interest in buying TikTok in 2020.

However, ByteDance has made it clear since April that it has no intention of selling TikTok, despite the U.S. ban.