It’s the end of an era for TikTok users in the United States, as the app will be officially banned later this month.
The United States Supreme Court voted in a similar decision on Friday, January 17, to uphold the Protection of Americans from Foreign Enemy Claims Act, a law that effectively bans the program from operating in the country, according to CBS News. TikTok will need to be removed from smartphone app stores when the law goes into effect on Sunday, January 19.
Congress passed a law last year, making it illegal for providers (such as Google or Apple) to “distribute, maintain or update” an operating system controlled by a foreign enemy (China, Russia, North Korea or Iran). Government officials have been wary of ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese parent company, having access to the information of US citizens over espionage fears. ByteDance, meanwhile, said the ban is a violation of the First Amendment’s protection of free speech.
TikTok could remain available if it splits with ByteDance, and the president could grant a 90-day extension if the sale goes through.
Since the Supreme Court voted to uphold the law, dozens of social media stars, celebrities and other users will have to leave the platform forever.
“I think everybody loses,” Marc D’Amelio said on ABC News Studios’ “IMPACT x Nightline” special from May 2024. “I think small businesses are losing out. I think the politicians have also lost.”
Marc and his wife, Heidi D’Ameliothey are parents on social media Dixie again Charlietheir online presence increased in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We didn’t call ourselves the first family of TikTok,” Marc, 56, said in an ABC News exclusive. “It’s hard to believe that many people sit and watch the video. I think the ability to turn an unknown person into a celebrity, I don’t think there is another platform like that.”
There’s also the possibility that an American owner could buy the app from ByteDance — once Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary you have already entered an illegal offer.
“We want to make it clear … that we are consumers,” O’Leary, 70, told Yahoo! Finance on Friday, January 10. “We have an active organization. We are ready to invest up to $20 billion, and we don’t need an algorithm. We don’t want an algorithm.”
O’Leary has formed a constium with other businessmen, including billionaires Frank McCourt Jr.to buy the app for 20 billion dollars.
“You have to make the impression that in order for them to know that there is a request, we have to find a way to take it to them,” he said while talking about ByteDance’s reluctance to accept this request. “I know all the shareholders. So does Frank. We know who they are. We have known that for two years. I know them myself.”