The Supreme Court certifies the “death” of TikTok in the US: the app goes black this Sunday

The Supreme Court was the last bullet in TikTok’s chamber to avoid its ban in the United States. And that ballad has finally missed the mark. The highest judicial body of the North American country has ruled this Friday that the federal law that forces TikTok to divest from its subsidiary in the United States or, failing that, to disappear from the application stores does not violate the First Amendment of the Constitution, as it argued. the ByteDance subsidiary to circumvent the ban on the social network on US soil through a moratorium on the application of that rule.

By virtue of this opinion, which would have been taken unanimously by the judges of the Supreme Court, TikTok must go black this Sunday across the seas unless it agrees to change hands in the United States (and finds a buyer within two days). ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has in any case always categorically refused this option, although this week a rumor emerged that China could give its approval to Elon Musk controlling the American arm of the social network (something that was branded, however, “pure fiction” on the platform).

«There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a vast and different outlet for expression, way of communicating, and source of community. But Congress has determined that divestment is necessary to address its well-founded national security concerns. around TikTok’s data collection practices and around its relationship with a foreign adversary,” the Supreme Court notes in its ruling. “We conclude that the provisions that had been in dispute do not violate plaintiffs’ rights protected by the First Amendment,” the court adds.

The outcome was predictablesince in a hearing held last Friday the judges already removed iron from the argument put forward by TikTok that the law aimed at the cessation of the social network’s operations in the United States was unconstitutional in nature for violating the First Amendment. In that hearing, the magistrates emphasized that the law sought to regulate the ownership of TikTok and not the freedom of expression exercised there.

Between this Friday and next Sunday President Joe Biden could still apply a 100-day extension to delay the disappearance of TikTok in the United States. This is provided, not in vain, by the federal law supported today by the Supreme Court. However, the condition for applying this extension is that TikTok has already taken steps to change ownership in the United States (which does not seem to be the case).

The disappearance of TikTok from application stores in the United States will occur just one day before Donald Trump takes office as the new tenant of the White House. And it will, in fact, be up to your Administration to be in charge of the practical application of the rule aimed at the cessation of TikTok’s operations in the United States. Trump, who has expressed his desire for TikTok to continue operating in the United States, today held a conversation with the Chinese head of state, Xi Jinping, in which they spoke, among other things, about the situation of the ByteDance subsidiary in USA. And the president-elect of the United States has described that conversation as “positive.”

TikTok has been preparing for its closure in the United States for days

Aware that luck was definitely elusive, TikTok began preparations for its “blackout” overseas a few days ago and would also have informed advertisers that it will pause its advertising campaigns this Sunday.

If this Sunday the closure of TikTok in the United States finally becomes effective due to lack of a buyer or an eventual last-minute move by Joe Biden, Users will likely receive a pop-up message through the application that will redirect them to a website with information about the ban on the social network.. In addition, it seems that TikTok plans to give its users based in the United States the possibility of downloading their personal data stored on the social network.

On the other hand, in a message sent this Tuesday to the staff, the head of resources at TikTok assured the social network’s employees in the United States that they would keep their jobs even if the ban on this platform in the North American country became effective.as reported The New York Times. “Your jobs, salaries and benefits are secured, and our offices will remain open, although the situation has not been resolved before the January 19 deadline,” says Nicky Raghavan, global head of HR at TikTok. “The law is not written in such a way that it affects the entities through which you are contracted and only affects the user experience in the United States,” Raghavan adds.

If there are no last-minute changes in the future of TikTok, which seems definitively doomed to closure in the United States, The social network will go black this Sunday in the North American country and it will no longer be possible to download the app in the application stores. Those who already have the app installed on their phone will, however, still be able to access TikTok, although they will not benefit from updates and this could undermine the proper functioning of the application in the long run.

The law forces Apple and Google to expel TikTok from their application stores starting next Sunday, January 19. And American web hosting providers will also have to cut ties with the TikTok subsidiary or face fines of up to $5,000 for each user who continues to have access to the platform, so the total amount of sanctions could end up being several billion dollars.

It is not the first time that TikTok faces a possible ban in the United States

During his first term at the head of the White House Donald Trump has already tried to force the sale of TikTok in the United States threatening the social network with its ban on US soil. However, at that time the courts ruled out the reason of the then president of the United States, who currently supports, however, TikTok and would, in fact, be studying the approval of an executive order to grant the social network a period of grace of between two and three months and thus promote the postponement of the entry into force of the federal law that condemns the social network to stop operating on US soil if its subsidiary in this country does not change hands before January 19. Even so, and even if Trump approved this executive order, TikTok would disappear from the application stores in the United States for at least one day.

After that first attempt to ban TikTok in the United States, in April of last year Congress passed a federal law (signed by Joe Biden) that forced ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, to sell its US subsidiary within 270 days or be forced to disappear from application stores.

US authorities are concerned that the Chinese government could rely on TikTok to have access to the data of American users of the social network and disseminate propaganda through this platform.

Where are the “TikTok refugees” migrating to?

For several weeks now and given that TikTok has every chance of disappearing in the United States (except for last-minute surprises), American users of this social network are asking their “followers” to continue providing them with support on alternative platforms such as Instagram, YouTube and Snapchatwhich could benefit from the ban of the ByteDance subsidiary.

In recent days, RedNote’s overseas popularity has also grown enormously.an app that, like TikTok, comes from China. The so-called “TikTok refugees” (which is what users of the ByteDance social network in the United States call themselves) are migrating en masse to RedNote, so much so that this application became the most downloaded in the App Store on Monday. Apple in the United States.

This alternative platform to the ByteDance social network has 300 million monthly users at its side and it is a kind of amalgamation of TikTok and Instagram. Its users, who are mainly young women living in urban areas, share a wide variety of lifestyle tips on RedNote, from those related to fashion to those related to the world of dating. Like TikTok, RedNote provides shelter to a large army of influencers who end up on this platform attracted by succulent incentives.

Beyond RedNote, many TikTok users in the United States are also migrating to Lemon8, an app attached like TikTok to the ByteDance orbit (and with roots, therefore, in China). By sharing the same parent company, TikTok accounts can be easily transferred to Lemon8 and the user also has the possibility of synchronizing both platforms and simultaneously publishing identical content on both social networks. In addition, Lemon8, whose downloads on iOS and Android tripled last week, is an application based on the same algorithm that governs its “big sister” TikTok and, beyond being very similar in terms of operation to the app short videos, provides the user with additional functionalities that are seen in the mirror of platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest.

Meta, the great beneficiary of the TikTok “blackout” in the United States

Despite the rise of Chinese apps like RedNote and Lemon8, Everything indicates that the great beneficiary of the disappearance of TikTok in the United States will be Metawhere not only users of the ByteDance social network but also the succulent budgets of advertisers on this platform will find accommodation.

In the United States, where TikTok has more than 170 million users, Until now, advertisers based in this country have invested billions in advertising that will flow mainly to Metaaccording to a report by Emarketer.

According to this research, In 2024 alone, TikTok entered its coffers with 12.34 billion dollars from advertising in the United States. And assuming that the TikTok subsidiary could be stripped of between 50% and 70% of its advertising revenue as a result of the blackout, between 6.17 billion and 8.64 billion of advertising spending will find accommodation on other platforms.

Emarketer analysis estimates that Metathe parent company of Facebook and Instagram, could gobble up an additional $2.46 billion to $3.38 billion in advertising investment with the ban of TikTok on US soil.

If TikTok ends up closing the shutter in the United States, Instagram and Facebook will absorb 22.8% and 17.1% respectively of advertising spending on this social networkwhile YouTube will capture approximately 10% of the investment.