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The social media app is likely to disappear from the app stores of Google and Apple right away. But it’s unclear if users will completely lose access.
By Eli Tan
Reporting from San Francisco
Published Jan. 10, 2025Updated Jan. 15, 2025, 1:56 p.m. ET
The monthslong fight by legislators to ban the social media app TikTok in the United States came to a head on Friday when the Supreme Court heard arguments to decide the app’s fate for its 170 million American users.
While the justices across the ideological spectrum asked tough questions of both sides, the overall tone and thrust appeared to suggest greater skepticism toward the arguments by lawyers for TikTok and its users that the First Amendment barred Congress from enacting the law.
If TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, does get banned on Jan. 19, here is what users can expect to happen:
Will TikTok still be available to download on app stores?
No. The law passed by Congress last year would make it illegal for app stores from companies like Apple and Google to distribute or issue updates to TikTok at the risk of hefty civil penalties: $5,000 per American user, which could amount to hundreds of billions of dollars.
If TikTok is banned, it will likely disappear from app stores overnight. (Apple and Google have not commented on their plans to remove the app.)
Apple has long complied with foreign governments that have ordered apps to be removed in their countries. Last April, for instance, Apple pulled communication apps like WhatsApp, Signal, Threads and Telegram from its app store in China at the request of the Chinese government.
English (US)