TikTok announces timeline for app shutdown in the US – what it could mean for you

According to sources close to the situation, TikTok is expected to cease its services for users in the United States starting this Sunday. This action coincides with the looming possibility of a federal prohibition on the popular social media platform.

That is, unless the Supreme Court moves to block the ban.

If the anticipated ban materializes, its impact would not be as immediate and severe as the legal directive suggests. The ban, as dictated by the law, would only prevent new downloads of TikTok from the Apple and Google app stores while allowing existing users to continue accessing the application for a certain period, as per Reuters.

Insiders familiar with TikTok’s contingency plan revealed that individuals trying to access the app post-shutdown would encounter a notification prompting them to visit a designated website for detailed information regarding the impending ban. The sources opted for anonymity considering the sensitive nature of the subject matter.

The company also plans to give users an option to download all their data so that they can take a record of their personal information, they said.

Shutting down such services does not require longer planning, one source said, noting that most operations have been continuing as usual as of this week. 

If the ban gets reversed later, TikTok would be able to restore service for US users in a relatively short time, the source said. 

Under the law banning the app, users would face different consequences.  

Charli D’Amelio has the second largest following on the platform. The 20-year-old influencer from Norwalk, Connecticut, has more than 155million followers (at Swarovski in NYC on December 9)

Khaby Lame attends the UK Premiere of ‘Oppenheimer’ at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square in London on July 13, 2023. Lame is the most followed person in the world on TikTok with more than 162million followers

Anyone who does not already have the app downloaded when the ban goes into effect will not be able to install it going forward.

Existing users, however, will still be able to access and use the app. 

But in addition to seeing a pop-up about the ban upon opening the app, they will not be able to install updates, which will likely cause it to degrade and stop working over time. 

TikTok is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, which has more than 7,000 employees in the US.

Last April, President Joe Biden signed a law requiring ByteDance to sell its US assets by January 19, 2025 or face a nationwide ban.

This move arose out of Congress’s concerns over the threat TikTok poses to US national security.

US lawmakers have claimed that the Chinese government could use the app to spy on Americans or influence the American public by amplifying or suppressing certain types of content.  

Last week, the US Supreme Court seemed inclined to uphold the law, despite calls from President-elect Donald Trump some lawmakers to extend the deadline, Reuters reported. 

Mr. Beast is seen in attendance during the UFC 299 event at Kaseya Center on March 09, 2024 in Miami, Florida. Mr. Beast, real name James Donaldson, is the third most followed person on TikTok with more than 106million followers

Trump, who is set to be sworn into office one day after the law would go into effect, has said he should have time to pursue a ‘political resolution’ to the issue. 

Senator Ed Markey, D-Mass, said Monday that he planned to introduce legislation to delay the ban by an additional 270 days. 

‘TikTok creators and users across the nation are understandably alarmed. They are uncertain about the future of the platform, their accounts, and the vibrant online communities they have cultivated,’ Markey said in a statement. 

‘These communities cannot be replicated on another app. A ban would dismantle a one-of-a-kind informational and cultural ecosystem, silencing millions in the process.’ 

Markey has also jointed Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky, and Representative Ro Ghanna, D-Calif. in submitting a bipartisan brief asking the US Supreme Court to reverse a lower court’s decision to uphold a TikTok ban.

The lawmakers argue that ‘there are less drastic measures that could effectively address data security issues without infringing on constitutional rights,’ according to the brief.  

‘A ban on TikTok not only violates the free speech of millions of Americans, but it also jeopardizes the livelihoods of creators and small business owners who use the app,’ Khanna said in a statement. 

TikTok plans to shut its app for US users Sunday, when a federal ban on the social media app could come into effect, inside sources have told Reuters

‘We need laws to protect Americans’ data, but banning TikTok is not the answer.’

TikTok and ByteDance have said the law violates the US constitution’s First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech. 

Both the app and its parent company have sought to delay the implementation of the law. 

In a December court filing, TikTok said that an estimated one third of the 170 million Americans who use the app would stop accessing the social media platform if the ban lasted a month.