TikTok Ban live: Updates as the social media platform hangs in the balance

What's next for TikTok?

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In this photo illustration, logo of Tiktok is displayed on mobile phone screen in front of flag of United States.
(Image: © Photo by Muhammed Selim Korkutata/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The end is nigh for TikTok...or is it? The ultra-popular social media platform stands on the precipice of a US ban that would wipe it from app stores and quickly make it inoperable on iPhones and Androids. 150 million users could lose access to audiences around the world and five million TikTok businesses could vaporize in an instant.

But it's not that cut and dried. Last-minute saviors could arise, even in the form of those who first sought to banish the Chinese-owned app.

A little background here before we dive into the minute-by-minute machinations that hold TikTok's future in the balance.

TikTok is a nearly decade-old social media platform that, in the US, started its life as Music.ly and was primarily a lip-syncing app (people made videos dancing and lip-syncing to their favorite pop songs). The app was bought by ByteDance, a Chinese software company, which quickly combined it with its own social media app and renamed it TikTok (in China, the app is called Douyin).

Not many people initially knew or cared about TikTok besides the teens who had previously used Music.ly. The Pandemic changed all that, though, as families were forced indoors and, with little else to do, turned to TikTok as both a creative outlet and digital community builder. The app's popularity exploded, and it became a cultural phenomenon.

It was also around this time that US relations with China soured, and concerns about cyber espionage grew. A Chinese-owned app in the hands of virtually every American suddenly seemed like a very bad idea. At issue was the Chinese government's open access to all technology and data of any company operating within its borders.

Then President Donald Trump signed an executive order in 2020 to ban TikTok in the US. The company responded by moving all data and operations related to the US version of the app inside the US. Oracle would host the data, and US-based employees would manage virtually everything else.

That was not enough, though, and eventually, President Joe Biden signed a law setting a timeline to force TikTok to sell by January 19, 2025, or be banned in the US.

Now, the final hours are winding down, but here's where things get interesting. We're about to give you the latest on TikTok's fate in the US. Stick with this live blog for all the breaking developments.

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Leave it to...Trump?

Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump holds a campaign rally at the PPG Paints Arena on November 04, 2024 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a day before the general election.

Incoming President Donald Trump (Image credit: Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Incoming US President Donald Trump has already made his newfound adoration for TikTok clear but now we have evidence that he wants to take an active role in saving the platform.

According to the BBC One of Trump's top advisors, Congressman Mike Waltz, says Trump will step in if the US Supreme Court decides to uphold the ban (we're still awaiting its decision).

Trump's actions will hinge on a clause in the law that allows TikTok a 90-day extension if they've made significant progress in a sale. That determination may be up to Trump who could on Monday after he's inaugurated make that a priority.

That action, though, will come after the ban takes effect. Does TikTok just hold tight and flout the ban for 24 hours or so and wait for Trump to make the save? Third-party partners might not be comfortable with that. They don't want to end up paying fines, after all.

Again...so many questions.

Senator Markey has other ideas

The most remarkable thing about the looming TikTok ban is its almost universal support across the political spectrum. This appeared to be the only thing Democrats and Republicans agreed on, plus it had the full support of the White House.

In these sharply divided times (at least in the US), no one agrees about anything – except of course about the "dangers" of TikTok.

There is, however, an almost lone voice of dissent. Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey has been a staunch Tiktok defender and a relatively new on-platform creator. Yesterday, Se. Markey introduced the "Extend the TikTok Deadline Act" in the Senate. No telling if the bill will go anywhere but you've gotta love the guy for flying into the wind.

@senmarkey

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A special guest

Shou Zi Chew, chief executive officer of TikTok Inc., speaks during the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore, on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew (Image credit: Bryan van der Beek/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Guess who's coming to President-elect Trump's inauguration on January 20? TikTok CEO Shou Chew has an invite, that's at least according to sources speaking to NBC News.

If Chew attends the ceremony and festivities, he'll also likely have some sit-down talks with Trump about the future of the platform. Chew's arrival a day after the ban takes effect might be problematic but then there is a chance that President Joe Biden might issue an exec order stay of execution as he's walking out the White House doors.

It's a lot of moving pieces and it's still unclear what Trump's invite means and how he really views TikTok. He may still demand a sale to a US company but just give TikTok more time to do it.

A Beast enters the arena

Mr Beast wants to buy TikTok

(Image credit: Future)

YouTube showman and over-caffeinated philanthropist Mr. Beast (real name James Stephen Donaldson) has produced several TikToks this week saying that he is buying TikTok. The YouTuber is well known for stunts and this may simply be another one.

As I noted earlier ByteDance has never put the platform up for sale but Donaldson appears undaunted.

@mrbeast

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Things we can't control

I've spent the past few weeks trying to get someone at TikTok to go on the record about what's about to happen and how the US-based team is preparing. No one is ready to talk.

I did, however, attend a TikTok cocktail party after a TikTok 5th annual What's Next Trend Report session at CES 2025. As I hobnobbed with various TikTok execs, they all expressed the same mood: this is beyond our control. They were cheerful, weirdly positive, and focused on the future, as uncertain as it is.

Most like to focus on the current and continuing positive impact Tiktok has had on countless businesses, from startups to long-established ones. They have plans for them and are still building tools to support them.

As Sofia Hernandez, Global Head of Business Marketing for TikTok said in a release, "In 2024, we saw brands push creative limits, lean into trends, and connect with their communities in powerful ways, but 2025 is set to take it even further.”

I wonder if any are sending frantic notes to ByteDance headquarters begging them to sell the company (ByteDance has always said it has no interest in a sale) but none of that anxiety was in evidence that evening. They're just doing what they can now and will react to the changes if and when they come.

Kind of like the 150 million US-based TikTok users

#TikTokRefugees

Red Note

(Image credit: Future)

TikTok refugees are already planting flags on what they think are safer shores. Many have joined RedNote, another Chinese app that shares many of TikTok's features, but adds in Chinese language controls and content for good measure.

I wrote about the phenomenon here and have since counseled many that, while this app looks like fun, it has even less chance of surviving than TikTok. As a true Chinese app, it has none of TikTok's US data protections. The same goes for Lemon8, which is also owned by TikTok but does not necessarily run in the US.

For the moment, TikTokers seems reluctant to move over to US-based options like Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. They may soon have no choice, though.

Biden as rescuer?

US President Joe Biden

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Because TikTok's ban is set to take effect on January 19th, the final day of President Joe Biden's term and a day before President Trump takes office, there's been some confusion (and maybe concern) about which US leader would have the final say.

Trump has recently signaled he might be in favor of keeping TikTok alive in the US. Biden hasn't said much recently about the issue, but now his administration is signaling, if not a change of heart, an interest in a slightly different ban scenario.

According to a report on NBC News, Biden's office might no longer want TikTok to go dark on the 19th. There may be an interest in deferring the final decision to Trump when he takes office.

The report, however, then all but scuttles that hope, quoting one official who told them, "We are not considering deferring enforcement...Statutorily, we don’t believe we have the authority to do that."

In other words, no one knows what's going to happen on Sunday.