TikTok US Ban: The App Went Offline, Now It’s Back. What Comes Next?

In the spring of 2024, the House of Representatives and the Senate passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFAFA). The act is designed to ban any social networking service that the president of the USA and other relevant provisions consider to be a “foreign adversary-controlled application.”

While the definition covers any websites and application software, including mobile apps, the act explicitly targets the Chinese company ByteDance Ltd. and its subsidiaries, including TikTok. It would only cease to apply if the application were divested—AKA sold to an appropriate buyer—and no longer determined to be controlled by a foreign adversary of the USA.

The president of the USA officially signed the act on April 24th, 2024. This gives ByteDance 270 days—until January 19th—to divest its company.

ByteDance took two weeks to respond against the newly signed law that would force the company to sell it or face the country-wide ban on its services.

In early May 2024, TikTok and its parent company filed a lawsuit against the US government, claiming that the law would violate the First Amendment by effectively removing an app that millions of Americans use to communicate and share their views freely.

Just for reference, the First Amendment to the US Constitution prevents Congress from making and passing laws “respecting an establishment of religion; prohibiting the free exercise of religion; or abridging the freedom of speech, the freedom of the press, the freedom of assembly, or the right to petition the government for redress of grievances.”

TikTok's lawsuit highlighted divestment challenges, claiming that selling the company would not be “commercially, technologically, or legally feasible,” especially within the 270-day period.

The company further argued that the law forbids the new owner from accessing ByteDance software to keep the app momentarily functioning. Consequently, it would take years for a new set of engineers to become familiar with the code and further develop and maintain the platform.

Moreover, the Chinese government refused to sell the recommendation algorithm responsible for much of the app’s worldwide success, making it nearly impossible for the platform to continue thriving.

Unfortunately for TikTok, the US Department of Justice responded to the lawsuit in favor of the government. In a federal appeals court filing, the prosecutors emphasized TikTok’s potential threat to national US security should the current company continue to operate the social media platform.

The prosecutors also raised concerns that TikTok’s recommendation algorithm could be used for “secret manipulation” and, thus, potentially sway the views and opinions of Americans for its purposes.

Essentially, there remains a persistent fear that a foreign government, specifically China, could gain access to interfere with the US political system and public discourse, including the elections.

Later that year, TikTok officials appeared in federal court to argue against the potential ban in the USA. However, they had little success as the judges seemed unimpressed by their notion that banning TikTok would mean a violation of the First Amendment.

Instead, the judges clarified that the decision regarding the ban could not solely hinge on the First Amendment definition as it only pertains to companies based in the US.

Regardless of the federal court’s outcome, the case is expected to advance to the Supreme Court.

In early January 2025, just nine days before the ban was set to take effect, TikTok and the Justice Department presented their arguments to the Supreme Court.

This marked TikTok's last legal effort to prevent the looming ban. Its lawyers emphasized again that the ban or required divestiture would burden free TikTok speech. They argued that the law disregards less extreme alternatives, such as banning TikTok from sharing sensitive user data with penalties like heavy fines, jail sentences, or a complete app shutdown.

Finally, the company noted that if the US government was genuinely worried about China accessing sensitive data from American citizens, it should also scrutinize Chinese e-commerce companies like Temu and Shein.

In opposition, the Department of Justice argued that the law does not infringe on the First Amendment as it doesn’t intend to regulate speech on the platform or its algorithm. Instead, they justified their concerns about the threat posed by the platform, highlighting that ByteDance had already been caught surveilling American journalists through location data.

The Department also dismissed TikTok’s claims that divesting the company would be impossible, stating that it aligns with a “long tradition” of blocking foreign control of US communications infrastructure. In their opinion, once the law is upheld, the company will finally start negotiating a divestment strategy to keep the app operating in the USA.

However, TikTok was clear about its stance. It warned that if the Supreme Court did not intervene and upheld the law instead, the social media platform would immediately “go dark” across the country.

On January 17th, the Supreme Court announced its verdict: The divest-or-ban law would be upheld, requiring TikTok to divest its US operations within 3 days to avoid the app’s shutdown in the domestic market.

As the company’s representatives “pledged” in court, the TikTok app was removed from most platforms, including Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store, late on January 18th. Existing users—over 170 million—were also informed that the app was now blocked or unavailable. All social functions, such as loading, watching, sharing, commenting, or viewing profiles, were also disabled.

Furthermore, anyone who had previously deleted it was unable to re-download it. However, users retained access to their account data and could even sign in through the website.

TikTok wasn’t the only app connected to ByteDance affected by the ban. Other platforms, including Marvel Snap, CapCut, Tokopedia, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and Lemon8, became unavailable in the US.

Shortly after the ban took effect, President-elect Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform to urge a pause on the ban. In his initial post, he offered a deal in which the United States would acquire a 50% stake in a TikTok joint venture.

Later, he implied he would issue an executive order on the day of his inauguration (on January 20th) to “extend the period before the law’s prohibitions take effect.” Following his announcement, TikTok restored its services after less than 13 hours of being banned.

In a statement shared on X, TikTok confirmed:

“In agreement with our service providers, TikTok is in the process of restoring service. We thank President Trump for providing the necessary clarity and assurance to our service providers that they will face no penalties for providing TikTok to over 170 million Americans and allowing over 7 million small businesses to thrive.”

When the app became accessible again, users were greeted with a “Welcome Back!” message. However, the app did not return to app stores, leaving its future availability unresolved.