TikTok is to be banned in the US from Sunday if it is not sold by its Chinese parent company, the Supreme Court has ruled.
However, President Joe Biden has said he will not enforce the ban for the few remaining hours he is in office, leaving it up to Donald Trump to decide what to do when he enters the White House on Monday.
After the Supreme Court ruling, where the judges voted 9-0 in favour of the ban, the White House released a statement saying TikTok should remain available to Americans.
“TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” the White House said in a statement.
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Why is TikTok getting banned in the US?
The US’s top judges were deciding whether to overturn the ban after hearing appeals from TikTok creators and its lawyers.
US officials banned the app over concerns its parent company could give data on American citizens to the Chinese government. TikTok’s owners Bytedance have repeatedly said they won’t sell the social media platform.
President-elect Donald Trump also tried to get the ban delayed, so he could make a decision on it once he was in office.
However, the Supreme Court has decided to stick with the original ban.
Now, one day before Mr Trump returns to the White House, the social media app used by 170 million Americans will be banned.
There could be a quick beheading, with TikTok itself as the executioner.
There are reports the company will pull the plug for US users. When they attempt to open the app, people will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban, Reuters is reporting.
At a Supreme Court hearing last week, TikTok’s lawyer said the app would “go dark” in the US if the ban came into force.
Although there are a lot of American TikTok users, more than 1.5 billion people use TikTok worldwide, so the company could well decide it can manage without its US influencers.
If Mr Trump decides to enforce the ban, there could be a slow, painful death for TikTok in the US, where companies including Apple and Google take it off their app stores.
That will mean no new users can download the app and there won’t be any updates.
The app will slowly get clunkier and buggier and US creators will start to disappear.
Or, the president-elect will work out a way of stopping the ban coming into force.
Image: Pic: Reuters
Will Donald Trump save US TikTok?
Mr Trump gets into the White House the day after the ban begins.
He is now a big fan of TikTok with more than 14.8 million followers. He even credited the app with helping him win back the presidency.
He may try to undermine the ban, but he does not have the power to overturn it.
He could, however, say he won’t enforce it, and promise app store hosts such as Apple and Google they will not be prosecuted if they keep the app on their platforms.
Whether those major companies will want to take the risk of ignoring a legal ban is up for debate, however.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, Mr Trump said he would make a decision quickly on how to deal with TikTok but he “must have time to review the situation”.
Image: Devotees of TikTok gather in Washington as the ban was passed in 2024. File pic: AP
What is happening to US TikTok users?
US TikTokers have already started to migrate, with many heading to the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, which topped the US App Store this week.
In just two days, more than 700,000 new users joined Xiaohongshu, according to Reuters.
“They’re trying to give a big middle finger to the establishment,” Chinese RedNote user William Wang told Sky News, after he watched the app flood with Americans using the hashtag #TikTokRefugees.
“They’re rebellious, they’re going to go on a very Chinese application, not just TikTok, an entirely Chinese ecosystem.”
For the users not heading to RedNote, the more traditional apps are waiting in the wings.
Social media expert Adam Tinworth told Sky News the last time a major country banned TikTok, in India in 2020, it was not start-ups who benefitted – despite “a bunch” trying to fill the gap.
He said: “Because Meta had its Reels project ready and Alphabet had Shorts in YouTube, the vast majority of the activity on TikTok just gravitated towards those two platforms.”
When the ban was being discussed last year, Mr Trump said one of his issues was that the ban would send more people to Mark Zuckerberg’s apps.
“Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people,” he said in March 2024.
The UK-US trade deal has been signed and is “done”, US President Donald Trump has said as he met Sir Keir Starmer at the G7 summit.
The US president told reporters: “We signed it, and it’s done. It’s a fair deal for both. It’ll produce a lot of jobs, a lot of income.”
As Mr Trump and his British counterpart exited a mountain lodge in the Canadian Rockies where the summit is being held, the US president held up a physical copy of the trade agreement to show reporters.
Several leaves of paper fell from the binding, and Mr Starmer quickly bent down to pick them up, saying: “A very important document.”
Image: President Donald Trump drops papers as he meets with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Kananaskis, Canada. Pic: AP
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Sir Keir Starmer hastily collects the signed executive order documents from the ground and hands them back to the US president.
Sir Keirsaid the document “implements” the deal to cut tariffs on cars and aerospace, adding: “So this is a very good day for both of our countries – a real sign of strength.”
Mr Trump added that the UK was “very well protected” against any future tariffs, saying: “You know why? Because I like them”.
However, he did not say whether levies on British steel exports to the US would be set to 0%, saying “we’re gonna let you have that information in a little while”.
Image: Sir Keir Starmer picks up paper from the UK-US trade deal after Donald Trump dropped it at the G7 summit. Pic: Reuters
What exactly does trade deal being ‘done’ mean?
The government says the US “has committed” to removing tariffs (taxes on imported goods) on UK aerospace goods, such as engines and aircraft parts, which currently stand at 10%.
That is “expected to come into force by the end of the month”.
Tariffs on car imports will drop from 27.5% to 10%, the government says, which “saves car manufacturers hundreds of millions a year, and protects tens of thousands of jobs”.
The White House says there will be a quota of 100,000 cars eligible for import at that level each year.
But on steel, the story is a little more complicated.
The UK is the only country exempted from the global 50% tariff rate on steel – which means the UK rate remains at the original level of 25%.
That tariff was expected to be lifted entirely, but the government now says it will “continue to go further and make progress towards 0% tariffs on core steel products as agreed”.
The White House says the US will “promptly construct a quota at most-favoured-nation rates for steel and aluminium articles”.
Other key parts of the deal include import and export quotas for beef – and the government is keen to emphasise that “any US imports will need to meet UK food safety standards”.
There is no change to tariffs on pharmaceuticals for the moment, and the government says “work will continue to protect industry from any further tariffs imposed”.
The White House says they “committed to negotiate significantly preferential treatment outcomes”.
Mr Trump also praised Sir Keir as a “great” prime minister, adding: “We’ve been talking about this deal for six years, and he’s done what they haven’t been able to do.”
He added: “We’re very longtime partners and allies and friends and we’ve become friends in a short period of time.
“He’s slightly more liberal than me to put it mildly… but we get along.”
Sir Keir added that “we make it work”.
The US president appeared to mistakenly refer to a “trade agreement with the European Union” at one point as he stood alongside the British prime minister.
In a joint televised phone call in May, Sir Keir and Mr Trump announced the UK and US had agreed on a trade deal – but added the details were being finalised.
Ahead of the G7 summit, the prime minister said he would meet Mr Trump for “one-on-one” talks, and added the agreement “really matters for the vital sectors that are safeguarded under our deal, and we’ve got to implement that”.
A Los Angeles doctor has agreed to plead guilty to giving Friends actor Matthew Perry ketamine in the lead up to his death from a fatal overdose, prosecutors have said.
Dr Salvador Plasencia, who will admit to four counts of distribution of ketamine, faces up to a maximum of 40 years in prison.
The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor in a legal treatment for depression, but had begun seeking more ketamine than his doctor would give him.
Image: Salvador Plasencia. Pic: Malibu Canyon Urgent Care
Plasencia is accused of supplying the bulk of Perry’s ketamine in his final weeks. He and three other defendants, including another doctor, agreed to plead guilty in exchange for their cooperation.
Jasmine Sangha, who prosecutors allege was a major ketamine dealer, is alleged to have provided the dose that killed the actor and is the only defendant who has pleaded not guilty to the prosecution’s case.
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About a month before the actor’s death, Perry found Plasencia, a doctor who allegedly asked another doctor, Mark Chavez, to obtain the drug for him, according to court filings in the Chavez case.
“I wonder how much this moron will pay,” Plasencia texted Chavez, according to court filings from prosecutors.
Image: Dr Mark Chavez has pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute ketamine to Perry. File pic: AP
The pair who practised in California met up the same day and exchanged at least four vials of ketamine, the filings said.
After selling the drugs to Perry for $4,500 (£3,314), Plasencia allegedly asked Chavez if he could keep supplying them so they could become Perry’s “go-to” prosecutors said.
Chavez has pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute ketamine to Perry.
Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on Friends, when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing.
He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004.
A man accused of killing a US politician and her husband went to the homes of other lawmakers that night, intending to kill them, officials said.
Vance Boelter, 57, meticulously planned his attacks, carrying out surveillance missions, taking notes on the properties and people he targeted and disguising himself as a police officer, according to Minnesota’s acting US attorney Joseph Thompson.
Authorities believe Boelter wore a mask as he posed as a police officer and shone a torch in the face of some of his victims to disguise his identity.
Image: The FBI released this image of Vance Boelter posing as a police officer. Pic: FBI.
“It is no exaggeration to say that his crimes are the stuff of nightmare,” said Mr Thompson.
Boelter, 57, allegedly shot and wounded Senator John Hoffman, a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette, in their Minneapolis home in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Image: John Hoffman. Pic: Facebook/Senator John Hoffman
He then travelled to the home of another state lawmaker but she and her family were on holiday, so they didn’t answer the door, said Mr Thompson.
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Video showed that Boelter rang the doorbell at around 2.24am on Friday but left when the family didn’t respond.
Image: Vance Boelter. Pic: Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office/Reuters
He then drove to the home of an unnamed state senator, but after the Hoffmans’ adult daughter called emergency services to say her parents had been shot, a police officer was dispatched to conduct a wellness check.
That officer saw Boelter’s car parked up the street but thought he was another officer, said Mr Thompson.
Boelter had reportedly altered his car to make it look more like a police car.
He then left and drove to the home of lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, according to an FBI affidavit.
Local police officers, also conducting a check, arrived to see Boelter fatally shoot Mark Hortman through the open door of the home, according to the document.
Melissa Hortman was found dead inside.
Boelter was arrested on Sunday evening after a huge manhunt in a rural area in Sibley County, southwest of Minneapolis.
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He faces two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder in the deaths of the Hortmans and the wounding of Mr Hoffman and his wife.
Before his arrest, the father of five texted his family group chat saying: “Dad went to war last night … I don’t wanna say more because I don’t wanna implicate anybody,” according to the affidavit.
His wife got another text that said: “Words are not gonna explain how sorry I am for this situation… there’s gonna be some people coming to the house armed and trigger-happy and I don’t want you guys around,” the document said.
Several AK-style firearms and a list of about 70 names, which included politicians and abortion rights activists, were allegedly found inside his vehicle.
A Minnesota official said politicians who had been outspoken in favour of abortion rights were on the list.