The US Supreme Court upheld on Friday an unprecedented ban on TikTok, clearing the way for it to take effect this Sunday.
The bipartisan bill bans TikTok on national security grounds regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a “foreign adversary.”
To continue operating, the Chinese-owned platform should have been sold to an American owner. Having not made such a sale, the app will go dark for over 170 million users, and possibly more outside the US.
“We conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights,” reads the Supreme Court’s judgement.
Both outgoing and incoming administrations have been weighing options to extend the deadline.
US law allows the president to extend a ban under certain conditions, and while key democrats have been pushing for Biden to take action, it appears he will leave it to Trump, who takes over on Monday.
“Given the timing of when it goes into effect over a holiday weekend a day before the inauguration, it will be up to the next administration to implement,” a White House official reportedly told ABC News in a statement on Thursday.
Trump, meanwhile, has gone from an avid critic of the app to a vocal supporter.
On Thursday, The Washington Post reported that Trump is considering an executive order to suspend the ban for 60 to 90 days, and The New York Times reported that TikTok CEO Shou Chew will sit at the dais during Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
TikTok in Europe
The EU has not banned TikTok in any member state. The app has been so far blocked only from the phones of EU Commission officials and public sector employees in various member states.
But it has come under greater scrutiny to comply with the EU digital and privacy laws, which are much stricter than the US.
The Commission banned TikTok Lite, whose reward system allowed users to gain money by watching videos, in August 2024.
TikTok is under heightened scrutiny by the Commission and Romania authorities for its controversial role in alleged election manipulation, including Russian interference in Romania’s election.
The app has been under investigation by the Commission for breach of the DSA regarding its minor protection duty since February 2024.
This week, privacy rights NGO noyb also filed complaints against big Chinese companies, including TikTok, for unlawful data transfers to China under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – the EU’s law on personal data privacy.
Beyond the EU, Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama announced last month his country will ban the app temporarily for one year, but enforcement is still pending.
Circumventing a ban
While official bans can limit access to TikTok, technological workarounds can make it possible for users to keep using the platform.
For example, during the riots in New Caledonia over independence in May 2024, the French government banned TikTok temporarily. Yet, people still accessed the app through virtual private networks (VPN), which mask a user’s real location by routing internet traffic through a server in a different country.
The same is expected to happen in the US.
Another way to circumvent the ban is to modify one’s device domain name system (DNS) setting to public options which can help avoid potential local network restrictions. Once configured, TikTok should function.
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