TikTok ban upheld by U.S. Supreme Court. Here’s what could happen next – National

The popular social media platform TikTok in the United States is days away from shutting down after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday allowed the federal law forcing a nationwide ban to take effect.

However, there remain questions over whether it could still be reversed.

The uncertainty over the app’s future may have ripple effects in Canada, experts say, although Ottawa says what happens in the U.S. won’t impact its own moves to curtail TikTok’s business.

The Supreme Court’s ruling upholds a law passed in April that sets a Sunday deadline for TikTok’s China-based owner ByteDance to sell the social media app or face a ban. TikTok’s U.S. operations are also set to wind down in light of the ban.

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News on Thursday the new administration, which takes office Monday, will keep TikTok alive in the U.S. if there is a viable deal, though did not detail the specific action Trump would take.

It’s not clear what authority Trump has to intervene, although he could direct the Justice Department not to enforce the law, which threatens sanctions against the technology companies that make the app available and host it.

Pam Bondi, Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney general, dodged a question during her Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday on whether she’d uphold a TikTok ban.

“We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark,” said Waltz, pointing to a provision in the law allowing for a 90-day extension if there is “significant progress” toward a divestiture.

“Essentially that buys President Trump time to keep TikTok going,” Waltz said.

ByteDance has stood firm in its refusal to sell TikTok and part with the platform’s highly lucrative algorithm. If Trump were to use the “significant progress” provision, it could be challenged by Congress or in court.

Separately, congressional Democrats this week introduced legislation that would extend the forced divestiture deadline by 270 days. The lawmakers say millions of businesses rely on TikTok for marketing, and that people impacted by the deadly Los Angeles wildfires have shared critical information on the app.

“It’s clear that more time is needed to find an American buyer and not disrupt the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on the floor of the U.S. Senate on Thursday.

The U.S. law cited national security concerns that TikTok’s 170 million American users were susceptible to propaganda and data harvesting by the Chinese government.

Canada last year ordered TikTok to wind down its Canadian business operations after it said a national security review raised similar concerns about Chinese influence. However, the government said at the time it will still allow Canadians to use and access the app.

Innovation and Science Minister François-Philippe Champagne and other Canadian officials have repeatedly declined to explain in detail what those concerns are and what evidence it has, citing national security and privacy laws. It has also not fully explained why it feels Canadians are safe to continue using TikTok, although it has warned users to exercise caution with their data and personal information.

A spokesperson for Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada told Global News what happens to TikTok in the U.S. will not affect the Canadian decision.

“The government’s decision under the Investment Canada Act is final,” spokesperson Justin Simard said in an email.

TikTok is seeking a judicial review of the government’s decision, preventing the government from commenting further.

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Brett Caraway, an associate professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Institute of Communication, Culture, Information and Technology, says a shutdown of TikTok’s U.S. operations would further solidify TikTok’s business base in China, putting further distance between Canadian and American users and the platform.

“The main operations for ByteDance are in Beijing,” he said in an interview. “So if you have technical problems, if you have concerns, you’re not talking to anybody in Canada or the U.S. anymore.”

The main impact Canadians may see from a U.S. shutdown, Caraway said, is a sudden disappearance of American content, customer bases and advertising revenue on TikTok.

“All of a sudden there would be 170 million less users on TikTok,” he said. “For Canadians who are monetizing TikTok, that’s their most lucrative audience.”

Canada does not have any legislation in place that would allow the government to ban an app like TikTok in the way the U.S. law does.

The U.S. law mandates a ban on new TikTok downloads on Apple or Google app stores if ByteDance fails to divest the site.

Users who have downloaded TikTok would theoretically still be able to use the app, but the law also bars U.S. companies from providing services to enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of it once any ban begins.

The president can issue a one-time, 90-day delay to the ban if he certifies to Congress there has been evidence of significant progress and there are binding legal agreements in place to allow a complete divestiture in three months.

The legislation was passed as part of a larger bill that, among other measures, provided billions of dollars of urgent military and humanitarian aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

Trump has reversed his position on the popular app, having tried to ban it during his first term in office over national security concerns. He joined TikTok during his 2024 presidential campaign and his team used it to connect with younger voters, especially male voters, by pushing content that was often macho and aimed at going viral.

He pledged to “save TikTok” during the campaign and has credited the platform with helping him win more youth votes.

“There’s no better deal maker than Donald Trump,” Karoline Leavitt, the incoming White House press secretary and a spokesperson for the Trump transition team, told Reuters.

—With files from the Associated Press and Reuters