The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to uphold the law requiring TikTok to be sold by Sunday or be banned.
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the justices wrote in an unsigned opinion, according to Deadline. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary. For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights.”
The ban of TikTok was largely unsupported by social media users and, in response, the Biden administration explored ways to pause the ban in its final days before President-elect Donald Trump’s Monday inauguration. They ultimately decided steps to either enforce the ban or advocate for a reversal of the law fell under Trump’s responsibility.
“Given the sheer fact of timing, the administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next administration, which takes office on Monday,” the Biden administration said, according to Deadline.
“President Biden’s position on TikTok has been clear for months, including since Congress sent a bill in overwhelming, bipartisan fashion to the president’s desk: TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre added.
Although Trump advocated for a TikTok ban in July 2020, he recently backtracked and said he wants the social media app to remain available. In December, he issued a brief to the Supreme Court asking for a pause of the ban. He then said he wants to sign an executive order to stop the ban.
As Congress and the Supreme Court ruled to uphold the law banning TikTok, the most Trump can legally do is give out a one-time 90-day extension if significant steps are made toward ByteDance’s divestment of the app.
TikTok users in the U.S. have already started flocking to an alternative to the app. As the Sunday deadline looms, 700,000 new users joined RedNote, another Chinese social media platform, according to Reuters. TikTok users joining RedNote even led to another surprising trend—many are now learning Mandarin in order to learn how to use the app.
The language learning platform Duolingo has seen a 216% growth in Mandarin learners in the U.S. compared to this time last year.
“oh so NOW you’re learning mandarin,” the company wrote on X, formerlly Twitter.