On Saturday, TikTok buzzed with nervous anticipation across the United States as a looming federal ban threatened to cut off access to the Chinese-owned app. This app has captivated nearly half of all Americans, powered small businesses, and significantly shaped online culture. Late on Friday, the company announced that it would go dark in the U.S. on Sunday unless the Biden administration provided assurances to companies like Apple and Google that they would not face enforcement actions when the ban takes effect.
Privately held ByteDance is approximately 60% owned by institutional investors such as BlackRock and General Atlantic, while its founders and employees own 20% each. The company has more than 7,000 employees in the U.S. The ban, which would be enacted under a law signed by President Joe Biden in April, would mark the first U.S. shutdown of a major social media app. TikTok boasts about 170 million domestic users and is projected to generate an estimated $20 billion in revenue by 2025. The platform has until Sunday to sever ties with its China-based parent company, ByteDance, or shut down its U.S. operations to address concerns that it poses a threat to national security.
On Friday, Supreme Court justices upheld the ban in a unanimous decision, and a White House statement suggested that Biden would not take any action to save TikTok before the deadline. Without a formal decision by Biden to invoke a 90-day delay in the deadline, companies providing services to TikTok or hosting the app could face legal liability. It remains unclear whether TikTok’s business partners, including Apple, Alphabet’s Google, and Oracle, will continue doing business with it before Trump is inaugurated on Monday.
The uncertainty over the app’s future has sent users, primarily younger people, scrambling to alternatives, including the China-based app RedNote. Rivals Meta and Snap have also seen their shares rise this month ahead of the ban, as investors bet on an influx of users and advertising dollars. Marketing firms reliant on TikTok have rushed to prepare contingency plans this week, with one executive describing it as a “hair on fire” moment after months of conventional wisdom suggested a solution would materialize to keep the app running.
There have been indications that TikTok could make a comeback under incoming U.S. President Donald Trump, who aims to pursue a “political resolution” of the issue. Last month, Trump urged the Supreme Court to pause the implementation of the ban. On Friday, Trump stated that the decision on the future of the TikTok app would be up to him, but he did not provide any details about the steps he would take. Media reports have suggested that he is considering an executive order that would suspend the enforcement of the TikTok sale-or-ban law for 60 to 90 days.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew plans to attend the U.S. presidential inauguration on January 20 and sit among high-profile guests invited by Trump. Suitors, including former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in the fast-growing business, which analysts estimate could be worth as much as $50 billion. Media reports indicate that Beijing has also held talks about selling TikTok’s U.S. operations to billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, though the company has denied this.
