When will TikTok be banned in the United States? The date the platform could stop working

The banning of TikTok could hit users in the US on January 19, 2025―the day before Donald Trump is sworn in as president. The app is used by around a third of adults, according to estimates by Pew Research, with younger generations—59 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds—much more active on the app compared to 25 percent of adults over thirty.

The US Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments on Friday, January 10, that will inform whether or not the platform is banned.

The bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden in April 2024 gave ByteDance up to a year to complete the sale of the platform to a US company. Members of Congress have been accused of having ties to the Chinese government. ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is accused of being a tool of the Chinese Communist Party and has become a boogeyman for anti-China hawks who remain unconvinced by ByteDance’s efforts to protect the data of US users. Under a law passed in 2024, ByteDance had the option of divesting completely from TikTok US or risking a ban. The Supreme Court’s ruling could save the app, slated to be banned later this month. the ban will go into effect later this month.

Why is the US government seeking to ban TikTok?

Lawmakers have expressed concerns that TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, could provide the Chinese government with sensitive data on American users, including location information. However, additional comments from leaders reveal that their concerns extend beyond links to the Chinese government.

Former Utah Senator Mitt Romney spoke candidly about Congress feeling compelled to ban the social media platform after what he described as “anti-Israel” propaganda spreading widely following the attack by Palestinian militants on October 7, 2023, and the ongoing war in Gaza by the Israeli government. During an event where the senator interviewed Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Romney asked why Israel and the US government had been unable to control the public narrative.

The secretary explained that social media has upended how news is disseminated to the public, often lacking “context, history, [and] fact” instead of moving people emotionally through the images they see on their feeds. Several scholars of genocide, as well as international organizations, have described Israel’s assault on Gaza as genocide. The US government denies these allegations targeting its ally and understands that when the American public sees images coming from Gaza, many are horrified. Those moved by these images want the violence to end and are uninterested in litigating historical context.

After Blinken’s response, the former senator made “a small parenthetical point,” explaining that the problem of these images' spread was one reason for the “overwhelming support [in Congress] to shut down [...] TikTok and other entities of that nature.”

“If you look at the postings on TikTok and the number of Palestinians relative to other social media sites, it’s overwhelming,” Romney added.

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