TikTok’s last stand: Supreme Court hears arguments over potential ban

Illustration by Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo from Getty Images

One last chance before the divest-or-ban law takes effect on January 19th.

TikTok has just over a week before it's forced to either separate from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or functionally cease operations in the US. An appeals court upheld a divest-or-ban law, but the Supreme Court offers one final chance for the company and its users to make their case. The court is expected to issue a decision quickly after its January 10th oral arguments on whether to at least temporarily block the law.

President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act - which passed with bipartisan support - last year, but it will take effect just one day before he hands power to President-elect Donald Trump, who has made frequent but nebulous promises to avoid a ban. Trump filed a surprise brief urging the Supreme Court to delay enforcement until he could broker a deal - though it's unclear if the Chinese government would approve one.