TikTok to be banned in the US from Sunday, Supreme Court rules
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.
Analysis: America flinches as TikTok prepares to ‘go dark’ – will Trump save the day?
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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.
File pic: Reuters
What happens on Sunday?
On Sunday, a few things could happen, especially now President Biden has said he will not enforce the ban.
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.
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”.
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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.
Read more:
What is RedNote?
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.
Donald Trump has praised the Liberian president’s command of English – the West African country’s official language.
The US president reacted with visible surprise to Joseph Boakai’s English-speaking skills during a White House meeting with leaders from the region on Wednesday.
After the Liberian president finished his brief remarks, Mr Trump told him he speaks “such good English” and asked: “Where did you learn to speak so beautifully?”
Mr Trump seemed surprised when Mr Boakai laughed and responded he learned in Liberia.
The US president said: “It’s beautiful English.
“I have people at this table who can’t speak nearly as well.”
Mr Boakai did not tell Mr Trump that English is the official language of Liberia.
The country was founded in 1822 with the aim of relocating freed African slaves and freeborn black citizens from the US.
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Mr Trump promised the leaders of Liberia, Senegal, Gabon, Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau a pivot from aid to trade at the surprise meeting.
He described the countries as “all very vibrant places with very valuable land, great minerals, and great oil deposits, and wonderful people”.
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Later asked by a reporter if he’ll visit the continent, Mr Trump said, “At some point, I would like to go to Africa.”
But he added that he’d “have to see what the schedule looks like”.
Trump’s predecessor, President Joe Biden, promised to go to Africa in 2023, but only fulfilled the commitment by visiting Angola in December 2024, just weeks before he left office.
The Israeli government believes the chances of achieving a permanent ceasefire in Gaza are “questionable”.
The pessimistic assessment, in a top-level Israeli government briefing given to Sky News, comes as the Israeli Prime Minister prepares to leave Washington DC after a four-day visit which had begun with the expectation of a ceasefire announcement.
Benjamin Netanyahu will leave the US later today with the prospect of even a temporary 60-day ceasefire looking extremely unlikely this week.
Within “a week, two weeks – not a day” is how it was framed in the background briefing late on Wednesday.
Crucially, though, on the chances of the ceasefire lasting beyond 60 days, the framing from the briefing was even less optimistic: “We will begin negotiations on a permanent settlement. But we achieve it? It’s questionable, but Hamas will not be there.”
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Netanyahu arrives in US for ceasefire talks
Sky News has spoken to several Israeli officials at the top level of the government. None will be drawn on any of the details of the negotiations over concerns that public disclosure could jeopardise their chances of success.
But I have been given a very clear understanding of Mr Netanyahu’s thinking.
The Israeli position is that a permanent ceasefire (beyond the initial 60 days, which itself is yet to be agreed) is only possible if Hamas lays down its arms. “If they don’t, we’ll proceed [with the war],” said a source.
The major sticking point in the talks between Hamas and Israel is the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.
The latest Israeli proposal, passed to Hamas last week, included a map showing the proposed IDF presence inside Gaza during the ceasefire.
Read more: What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?
Pic: Reuters
This was rejected by Hamas and by Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who reportedly told the Israelis that the redeployment map “looks like a Smotrich plan”, a reference to the extreme-right Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.
My briefing of Mr Netanyahu’s position is that he has not shifted in terms of Israel’s central stated war aims. The return of the hostages and eliminating Hamas are the key objectives.
But in a hint of how hard it will be to reconcile the differences, it was clear from my briefing that no permanent ceasefire is possible in the Israeli government’s view without the complete removal of Hamas as a political and military entity.
Hamas is not likely to negotiate its way to oblivion.
On the status of the Israeli military inside Gaza, a senior Israeli official told Sky News: “We would want IDF in every square metre of Gaza, and then hand it over to someone.”
Pic: Reuters
It was clear to me that Mr Netanyahu wants his stated position to be that his government has no territorial ambition for Gaza.
One quote to come from my briefing, which I am only able to attribute to a senior Israeli official, says: “[We] don’t want to govern Gaza… don’t want to govern, but the first thing is, you have to defeat Hamas.”
Another clear indication of Mr Netanyahu’s position – a quote from the briefing, attributable only to a senior Israeli official: “You cannot have victory if you don’t clear out all the fighting forces.
“You have to go into every square inch unless you are not serious about victory. I am. We are going to defeat them. Those who do not disarm will die. Those who disarm will have a life.”
On the future of Gaza, it’s clear from my briefings that Mr Netanyahu continues to rule out the possibility of a two-state solution “for the foreseeable future”.
The Israeli government assessment is that the Palestinians are not going to have a state “as long as they cling to that idea of destroying our state”.
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On the most controversial aspect of the Gaza conflict – the movement of the population – the briefing revealed that Mr Netanyahu’s view is that 60% of Palestinians would “choose to leave” but that Israel would allow them to return once Hamas had been eliminated.
“It’s not forcible eviction, it’s not permanent eviction,” a senior Israeli official said.
Critics of Israel’s war in Gaza say that any removal of Palestinians from Gaza, even if given the appearance of being “voluntary”, is in fact anything but, because the strip has been so comprehensively flattened.
Reacting to Israeli Defence Minister Katz’s recent statement revealing a plan to move Palestinians into a “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza, and not let them out of that area, the official wouldn’t be drawn, except to say: “As a permanent arrangement? Of course not.”
A senior Israeli official has issued a less-than-optimistic assessment of the permanency of any ceasefire in Gaza.
Speaking in Washington on condition of anonymity, the senior official said that a 60-day ceasefire “might” be possible within “a week, two weeks – not a day”.
But on the chances of the ceasefire lasting beyond 60 days, the official said: “We will begin negotiations on a permanent settlement.
“But we achieve it? It’s questionable, but Hamas will not be there.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to conclude a four-day visit to Washington later today.
There had been hope that a ceasefire could be announced during the trip. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that it’s close.
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Netanyahu arrives in US for ceasefire talks
Speaking at a briefing for a number of reporters, the Israeli official would not be drawn on any of the details of the negotiations over concerns that public disclosure could jeopardise their chances of success.
The major sticking point in the talks between Hamas and Israel is the status of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) inside Gaza during the 60-day ceasefire and beyond, should it last longer.
The latest Israeli proposal, passed to Hamas last week, included a map showing the proposed IDF presence inside Gaza during the ceasefire.
Read more: What is the possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal?
Pic: Reuters
This was rejected by Hamas and by Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who reportedly told the Israelis that the redeployment map “looks like a Smotrich plan”, a reference to the extreme-right Israeli finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich.
The official repeated Israel’s central stated war aims of getting the hostages back and eliminating Hamas. But in a hint of how hard it will be to reconcile the differences, the official was clear that no permanent ceasefire would be possible without the complete removal of Hamas.
“We will offer them a permanent ceasefire,” he told Sky News. “If they agree. Fine. It’s over.
“They lay down their arms, and we proceed [with the ceasefire]. If they don’t, we’ll proceed [with the war].”
On the status of the Israeli military inside Gaza, the official said: “We would want IDF in every square meter of Gaza, and then hand it over to someone…”
He added: “[We] don’t want to govern Gaza… don’t want to govern, but the first thing is, you have to defeat Hamas…”
Pic: Reuters
The official said the Israeli government had “no territorial designs for Gaza”.
“But [we] don’t want Hamas there,” he continued. “You have to finish the job… victory over Hamas. You cannot have victory if you don’t clear out all the fighting forces.
“You have to go into every square inch unless you are not serious about victory. I am. We are going to defeat them. Those who do not disarm will die. Those who disarm will have a life.”
On the future of Gaza, the official ruled out the possibility of a two-state solution “for the foreseeable future”.
“They are not going to have a state in the foreseeable future as long as they cling to that idea of destroying our state. It doesn’t make a difference if they are the Palestinian Authority or Hamas, it’s just a difference of tactics.”
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On the most controversial aspect of the Gaza conflict – the movement of the population – the official predicted that 60% of Palestinians would “choose to leave”.
But he claimed that Israel would allow them to return once Hamas had been eliminated, adding: “It’s not forcible eviction, it’s not permanent eviction.”
Critics of Israel’s war in Gaza say that any removal of Palestinians from Gaza, even if given the appearance of being “voluntary,” is in fact anything but, because the strip has been so comprehensively flattened.
Reacting to Israeli Defence Minister Katz’s recent statement revealing a plan to move Palestinians into a “humanitarian city” in southern Gaza, and not let them out of that area, the official wouldn’t be drawn, except to say: “As a permanent arrangement? Of course not.”
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