How it would work and how to prepare: NPR

The fate of TikTok – and its 170 million US users – hangs in the balance, as the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of a law that would ban the platform in the US if its China-based owner, ByteDance, does not sell not its American Operation by January 19.

If the court follows the law — as a lower court did last month — TikTok’s days in the country would be numbered.

“On January 19, as I understand it, we closed our doors,” TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco told the justices during closing arguments Friday.

This doesn’t mean the viral video app will automatically disappear from people’s phones or that individuals will risk being punished simply for tuning in.

But it will become increasingly difficult for platform users in the United States to access the app, says Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology (which joined a amicus brief supporting TikTok and the protected speech of its users).

“I think the most obvious outcome of this law coming into effect is that … it’s going to take more technical knowledge to access TikTok,” Ruane told NPR. “And that in itself will be too great a barrier for many people to continue accessing TikTok or trying to use TikTok as a service.”

TikTok officials say it’s possible that on January 19, when U.S. users try to open the app, a prompt will appear saying the service is no longer available in the country. This is what happens when someone tries to launch TikTok in India, which banned the app in 2020.

It’s also possible that users can access the app, but it is buggy, works slowly or crashes often, the TikTok official said.

Here’s what could happen and how to prepare.

Fine print: how the law would actually work

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), which President Biden signed into law in April 2024, grants the government the authority to ban foreign applications that it considers a threat to national security.

The bill passed with considerable bipartisan support, as many lawmakers fear the Chinese government could access Americans’ data — through TikTok’s parent company — and use it to surveil Americans, spread disinformation and influence public opinion.

While the law concerns TikTok, it actually targets companies that make the platform accessible in the United States, including app stores like the Apple App Store and Google Play, as well as cloud service providers like Oracle.

The fine print prohibits these entities from “distributing, maintaining, or updating (or permitting the distribution, maintenance, or updating of) an application controlled by a foreign adversary” either through a marketplace or hosting services Internet.

In mid-December, Democrats on a House committee on U.S.-China competition sent letters to the CEOs of Apple and Google warning the companies to take steps to ensure that they will be able to “fully comply with this requirement” before the deadline – which will have an immediate impact on users.

“If you already have (TikTok) on your phone, it won’t disappear from your phone on January 19 or 20,” says Ruane. “However, it is very likely that it will disappear from the app stores.”

This means that users will no longer be able to download the app or any updated versions of it.

And without the ability to update, the platform won’t be able to fix bugs, add features, or resolve security issues. Eventually, Ruane says, it could also become incompatible with some phones’ operating systems.

“Over time… the service you get with the app will get worse and worse,” she adds, although it’s too early to say whether it will be a matter of days, weeks or months .

What to do: Preparations and potential solutions for TikTok users

As January 19 approaches and the possible ban on TikTok, experts like Ruane recommend that users download their data and backup any videos they want to be able to access in the future.

“The other thing is to remember that even after this law goes into effect, if it goes into effect, it won’t be illegal for them to continue using TikTok if they already have it on their phone – or even if they manage to acquire it from some source other than an app store,” she says. “This law will not apply to individual people accessing TikTok.”

One of the most discussed workarounds is something called a virtual private network (VPN), which encrypts users’ location data and makes it appear as if they are accessing content from another country.

They are commonly used in countries with strict internet restrictions to access blocked social media platforms, streaming services, and other geographically restricted content.

“Even if the app degrades on your phone, you will still be able to access it through a virtual private network on a web browser,” says Ruane.

There are also ways to download TikTok outside of the Google and Apple app stores, through processes called “sideloading” and “jailbreaking” respectively.

But they are not without complications or potential consequences: Apple, for example, will not honor warranties on jailbroken iPhones. Ruane believes the extra steps will deter many TikTok users.

“It’s a barrier to accessing the app, and it’s also something that you would have to weigh, like ‘Is it really worth it for me to get on TikTok, to do all this or to learn how to do all these technical tasks required?’ things?’” she said. “And I think for a lot of users who use the app occasionally, the answer will probably be no.”

Uncertainties: How the Trump administration could fight a ban

It’s no coincidence that the potential ban would go into effect on January 19, the last full day of Biden’s term. This puts the ball in the court of President-elect Donald Trump, who has his own strong opinions on TikTok.

While Trump previously denigrated the app as a threat to national security and even attempted to ban it during his first term, he has since become a staunch defender of the platform and last month even called on the Supreme Court to suspend the date of entry into force of the law in question. .

According to Ruane, Trump has three choices about how to proceed once in office, and all of them are complicated.

On one hand, he could try to convince Congress to repeal the original 2024 law that required ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations — legislation that the House and Senate passed with overwhelming support.

“It’s pretty simple, but it’s also incredibly difficult politically to do because it would require a vote change for a very large number of members of Congress,” Ruane says.

Trump’s second option is to order the Justice Department and attorney general not to enforce the law, essentially giving Google, Apple and others the opportunity to continue providing services to TikTok.

But Ruane says it’s also easier said than done, because lawyers for these companies would still see — and likely seek to avoid — a “gigantic legal risk” in flouting the law, which includes heavy penalties.

“So if someone uses your service to access TikTok and you break the law, it costs $5,000 per person who does it,” says Ruane. “If you accept the president’s offer and continue providing services to TikTok, even if you are technically violating the law, that’s $5,000 times hundreds of millions of people.”

The third potential option was proposed by Alan Rozenshtein, associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School and research director at Lawfare. As he told NPR Fresh air in December, Trump could “simply declare that the law no longer applies.”

Trump could choose to use his broad authority under the law to determine that ByteDance ultimately engaged in a “qualified divestiture” of TikTok, provided he took certain steps to do so.

“There is a scenario where ByteDance could move documents, transfer some assets from one company to another, do some sophisticated legal work, and that would give Trump enough cover to declare that TikTok is no longer controlled by ByteDance, ” Rozenshtein said.

It’s also not an airtight approach, Ruane says, as it could be challenged in court either by competitors or the entities involved.

One option under discussion among TikTok stakeholders is bringing back a national security deal known as Project Texas, which involves bringing in Austin-based Oracle to host all U.S. user data. Oracle would also oversee all data flows between TikTok’s U.S. operations and Beijing. The plan would also allow the federal government to invoke a “kill switch” that would shut down TikTok if the terms of the agreement were violated.

The deal initially had support from the Biden administration, but negotiations have stalled. People close to discussions about TikTok’s future say it’s possible Trump will bring back the Texas project, with Trump potentially determining that the deal makes TikTok compliant with the Divestment or Ban Act.

Ultimately, Ruane says, it’s unclear what, if anything, Trump might do to try to bring back TikTok — an app that she says is “not immediately replaceable,” even if newer platforms and existing ones are sure to compete for its place. many displaced users.

NPR’s Bobby Allyn contributed reporting.