TikTok is headed for a shutdown in the United States on Sunday when a deadline for the platform’s Chinese owner ByteDance to either divest itself or cease operations expires.
Beijing-based ByteDance was given an ultimatum in April when US President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Enemies Act (PAFACA).
As the ban nears, US officials have signaled that a delay could be in the works for the app, which is used by 170 million Americans.
Separately, a legal case is before the Supreme Court, where TikTok is challenging the ban on the grounds that it violates free speech.
Beyond the impact a ban would have on millions of users, TikTok’s fate is being watched closely because it could set a precedent for how the US deals with other Chinese-owned apps and other foreign adversaries, such as CapCut, Xiaohongshu, Lemon8, Alipay and WeChat.
What will happen on Sunday if the ban continues?
If nothing changes by the weekend, TikTok will be removed from US app stores on Sunday, while US tech companies will be banned from hosting, distributing, maintaining or updating the app.
Over time, the lack of updates would render the app unusable for existing users.
Sources told the media that users who try to access TikTok from Sunday will be directed to a website about the ban and ways to retrieve their personal information.
TikTok did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
Officials from the Biden administration and the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who promised to “save” the app during the campaign, have indicated they are trying to find a way to prevent the app from going dark.
“Americans should not expect TikTok to be suddenly banned on Sunday,” an unnamed member of Biden’s team told CNBC this week.
Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, told FOX News this week that the new administration “will find a way to preserve [TikTok] but protect people’s data”.
In another positive signal from the Trump team, TikTok CEO Shou Chew is scheduled to attend the president-elect’s inauguration on Monday.
What can the White House do to stop or delay the TikTok ban?
Under the terms of PAFACA, the US president can grant a 90-day extension if “substantial progress” has been made in finding a new buyer for TikTok.
According to US media reports, Trump is also reportedly considering an executive order to keep the app from being blacked out.
Anupam Chander, a professor of law and technology at Georgetown University, said these signs suggest that the TikTok saga may not end this weekend.
“President-elect Trump has asked the Supreme Court to slow down the process to give him time to find another solution,” Chander told Al Jazeera.
“When he’s president, he might still be able to convince Congress to change the law, or maybe even negotiate the sale of TikTok, or have some other power.”
Why are US lawmakers so worried about TikTok?
Washington claims the app poses a national security risk because Beijing could use it to spy on millions of Americans and spread propaganda.
While TikTok’s owner ByteDance is a private company, the Chinese government has a degree of influence over the domestic tech industry that doesn’t exist in the West.
In an attempt to appease US lawmakers, ByteDance partnered with US tech firm Oracle in 2022 to route traffic through its infrastructure and store data on US servers.
The move ultimately did not appease Congress, which overwhelmingly voted for the ban along bipartisan lines.
Claire Chu, senior China analyst at Janes in Washington, DC, said governments, including Beijing, rely on social media to understand public sentiment at home and abroad.
“There is absolutely this surveillance component to social media applications and internet usage. It’s not just censorship,” Chu told Al Jazeera.
“It’s also the broader collection of information, not just metadata, but real insights and trends, and … life patterns and vulnerabilities and opportunities.”
What about TikTok’s legal case against the ban?
The Supreme Court heard arguments in the case on January 10.
Although the court has yet to rule, most of the justices said they were skeptical of TikTok’s arguments that the ban violates Americans’ free speech rights.
Human rights groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), however, argue that the ban runs counter to free speech and distracts from the need for legislation to protect the personal information of Americans in general.
David Greene, director of civil liberties at the EFF, said foreign adversaries can obtain Americans’ information simply by buying it from data brokers on the open market.
“Because of Congress’s failure to pass comprehensive consumer privacy legislation, corporations around the world are free to collect Americans’ data, store it forever, and then monetize it through ever-increasing use and sales,” Greene told Al Jazeera.
“Banning or forcing the sale of one social media app will do almost nothing to protect the privacy of Americans’ data from another country,” he added.
