TikTok could disappear from the US as early as January

TikTok has announced that it could shut down its US operations on 19 January unless the Supreme Court lifts or delays a ban on the platform. The court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on 10 January in a case pitting TikTok, its user base and the Department of Justice against each other over possible First Amendment violations related to the restriction.

As Billboard reports, the judges have also received a plea from President-elect Donald Trump, asking that the next administration be given time to reach a ‘political resolution’ to the situation. However, it is not yet known whether the court will consider this plea.

The controversial law was signed by President Joe Biden in April 2024, after receiving the backing of a broad bipartisan majority in Congress. The Biden administration argues that ‘no one can seriously dispute that China’s control over TikTok through ByteDance poses a serious threat to national security’, claiming that the company could be forced to hand over sensitive user data to Chinese authorities. For its part, TikTok reinforces that there is no evidence that China has attempted to obtain such information.

Lawyers for TikTok and its parent company ByteDance are keen for the Trump administration to ease the ‘most severe consequences’ of the law, but warn that a shutdown, however temporary, could mean the loss of almost a third of its daily users in the US, as well as a significant impact on its advertising revenue.

Here are the tips for better sleep we found on TikTok that are really worth listening to.