What TikTok’s Jan. 19 Deadline Actually Means for You

On Friday, the US Supreme Court heard arguments from lawyers representing TikTok, from content creators and from the US government over whether the federal law banning the social media platform — passed by wide margins in Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden — violates the First Amendment rights of TikTok’s over 170 million active US users.

The hearing marked the beginning of the end of TikTok’s legal battle, and boy has it been a long journey here. The US government’s divest-or-ban deadline of Jan. 19 is only five days away, and there’s a lot of uncertainty about what that means. Today’s top story goes into everything we know about the case. What happens on and after Jan. 19.

The clock is ticking for TikTok. A US Supreme Court ruling that will likely decide the fate of the popular social media platform could come any day, with a potential TikTok ban set to take affect in less than a week.

The nation’s highest court is considering TikTok’s request to overturn a law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden last year that would effectively ban the app in the US if TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell it to a buyer deemed fit by US officials by Sunday, Jan. 19.

Lawyers for TikTok and the US government both pleaded their cases in oral arguments before the court on Friday, with TikTok charging that a ban would infringe on the First Amendment rights of the company and its users. But based on the questions and comments made during the more than two-hour-long hearing, it appeared that the justices were more on board with the government’s argument the case isn’t about free speech and instead has to do with the dangers posed by foreign adversaries, like China.

It’s unclear when the Supreme Court will issue a ruling, but it’s likely to come before the Jan. 19 sale deadline. It’s also possible the court could issue a stay, putting the law temporarily on hold until President-elect Donald Trump takes office just a day later on Jan. 20.

Lawmakers in both political parties have long voiced concerns that TikTok could be a threat to national security and could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans or spread disinformation to further China’s agenda.

TikTok continues to deny those accusations. Ahead of votes in Congress earlier this year, TikTok rallied its US users, calling on them to urge their representatives on Capitol Hill to vote down a ban. But the measure ultimately passed by wide margins in both chambers of Congress and was signed by Biden.