Supreme Court signals it’s ready to pull the plug on TikTok

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The Supreme Court just spent two hours discussing the fate of your favorite social media app, and it’s not looking great for TikTok.

In what might be the most significant tech regulation case of 2025, the justices appear ready to uphold a controversial ban that could force the app to shut down in just nine days.

During today’s oral arguments, Reuters reports the Court seemed unconvinced by TikTok’s primary defense.

The app’s legal team tried to frame this as a First Amendment issue, but the justices kept circling back to a different concern: national security.

At the heart of this case is a straightforward but complicated question: Can Congress force a social media platform to sell or shut down based on its foreign ownership?

The law, passed in April, gives TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, until January 19th to either sell to American owners or cease U.S. operations.

Forbes notes that the justices seem inclined to let that deadline stand.

The government’s case hinges on concerns about data security and content manipulation.

U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued that China could potentially weaponize the app, including using its algorithm to influence what Americans see.

TikTok maintains these fears as speculative, insisting that Beijing cannot determine which videos appear on the platform’s 170 million U.S. users’ feeds.

The stakes here are massive.

The platform currently contributes $24.2 billion to the U.S. GDP, and experts are calling a potential ban an “extinction-level event” for the creator economy.

Thousands of content creators and small businesses have built their livelihoods on the platform, and they’re now facing an uncertain future.

What’s particularly notable is the bipartisan nature of these concerns. Both the Trump and Biden administrations have raised red flags about TikTok’s data collection practices and potential for content manipulation.

The government claims to have classified evidence supporting these concerns, though according to Forbes, these details remain under wraps for national security reasons.

The Court’s decision on the January 19th deadline could come any day now, though their full ruling on the underlying constitutional questions will take longer.

For now, TikTok’s future in America hangs in the balance, along with the careers of countless creators and the daily entertainment of millions of users.

For the creator economy, this is about as fun as a root canal. We’re talking about a potential “extinction-level event” for folks who’ve built their entire careers on perfectly timed transitions and point-of-view sketches.

The platform currently contributes a cool $24.2 billion to the U.S. GDP, which is about to go poof faster than a viral trend.

The clock’s ticking for TikTok. Unless the Supreme Court throws out a last-minute lifeline, you’ve got about nine days left to lock down your account. After that? Well, there’s always the thrilling world of LinkedIn’s “thoughts on leadership” posts to fall back on.

This story is developing, and we’ll update it as new information becomes available.

Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com.