ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, is running out of options to avoid the coming ban in the United States.
Congressional leaders have warned Apple and Google to prepare to remove TikTok from each company's respective app stores once the ban goes into effect.
Late on Dec. 13, Reuters reported that Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), leaders of the House of Representatives committee on China, sent a letter to the tech giants.
The letter urges them to be ready to delist TikTok from the app stores once the ban starts January 19.
"Congress has acted decisively to defend the national security of the United States and protect TikTok’s American users from the Chinese Communist Party. We urge TikTok to immediately execute a qualified divestiture," the representatives wrote.
In the same letter, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi also urged TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to sell the app.
"Congress has acted decisively to defend the national security of the United States and protect TikTok’s American users from the Chinese Communist Party. We urge TikTok to immediately execute a qualified divestiture," they wrote.
TikTok ban: From bad to worse
The last five days have seen a pair of considerable blows to the company's attempts to get around the ban. Late last week, the US Court of Appeals in D.C. unanimously rejected a request for an emergency pause filed by ByteDance. The company attempted to pause the ban as it plans to appeal it before the Supreme Court.
The judges wrote, "The time available to the petitioners to seek further review in the Supreme Court, and the interest in preserving the Supreme Court’s discretion to determine whether and to what extent to grant any interim injunctive relief while that Court considers a petition for a writ of certiorari, a temporary injunction of the Act from this court is unwarranted."
The Supreme Court has not yet, and may not, grabbed the case. With lower courts rejecting ByteDance's attempts to change or delay the ban, the deadline is quickly approaching.
How did we get here and what's next?
TikTok has been under fire by the U.S. government due to alleged direct ties to the Chinese government and concerns about spying.
Over 170 million Americans use the app, many several generations younger than the lawmakers banning it.
The "anti-TikTok" bill was signed into law in April of 2024 by President Joe Biden. That bill set a deadline of January 19, 2025, for the ban to start.
TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, has tried multiple ways to delay or stop the ban. However, U.S. courts have repeatedly rejected ByteDance's attempts.
According to CNN, the Department of Justice has said that when the ban starts on January 19, it would "not directly prohibit the continued use of TikTok" by people who have already downloaded TikTok. However, the ban prohibits developers from deploying updates or support for the app, which "will eventually be to render the application unworkable."
TikTok spokespeople have stated that ending support services will "cripple the platform in the United States and make it totally unusable."
TikTok lifelines, including Trump?
TikTok does have a pair of lifelines that may prevent or reverse the ban. As mentioned, ByteDance is attempting to get the Supreme Court to hear a case against the ban. While the highest court in the country has not signaled whether or not it will take on the ban, it could happen next year, though it will happen after the ban goes into effect.
On the executive side, former and incoming President-elect Donald Trump has indicated that he is against the ban on TikTok, saying he has a "warm spot in my heart for TikTok."
Trump claimed that he won the youth vote and that TikTok may have been helpful in that regard. "We'll take a look at TikTok," he said.
If previous reports are to be believed, Trump has several significant changes he and his cabinet plan to enact quickly upon taking office. TikTok may not be front-of-mind for the new POTUS. However, it is still a slim lifeline that could keep the app alive.
