The Supreme Court on Sunday, January 19, upheld the law effectively banning TikTok. The decision marks the end of TikTok's months-long legal battle that essentially forced the ByteDance-owned app to shut down unless it divested its U.S. operations. on the grounds of national security.

Starting Sunday, it will be illegal for app stores and internet hosting services to distribute the social network. TikTok warned that the app would be "shut down" on Sunday, but it's unclear exactly what will happen when the ban takes effect.

In an opinion released not long ago, the Supreme Court said it was writing in response to appeals from three groups of petitioners, "two TikTok operating entities and a group of U.S. TikTok users" seeking a ban - which is new ’s Apps Protecting Americans from Control by Foreign Adversaries Act – rejected on First Amendment (free speech) grounds.

“Given that the opinion was delivered just days after oral argument, I cannot express the level of certainty I would like to the arguments and record before us,” the court wrote in the unsigned opinion. “All I can say is, At this time, under these restrictions, the problem appears to be real and the response to it is not unconstitutional... It is one thing to talk to and support a foreign adversary. It is another thing to allow a foreign adversary to spy on Americans. ”

Days earlier, TikTok filed a plea to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the law conflicts with the First Amendment and that the social network needs extra time for President-elect Donald Trump to take action to save the app.

During the hearing, the Department of Justice (DOJ) argued that the law did not violate the First Amendment because its purpose was not to regulate free speech on the platform or its algorithms. Surveillance has been at the heart of the effort to ban TikTok, and the Justice Department believes the Chinese government could force ByteDance to secretly hand over data on millions of Americans.

Throughout the legal battle, TikTok argued that spinning off the app's U.S. operations was impossible because China would block the export of the social network's algorithms. The company also claims that TikTok will be a completely different service with a different algorithm.

Today, the Supreme Court summarized the longer TikTok saga from 2020 in its opinion. But it also concluded that the bill's provisions "appear appropriate to the issues it seeks to address".

"There is no question that the remedies Congress and the President have chosen here are dramatic," it acknowledged.

However, the Supreme Court also highlighted the difficulty of ruling on technology, which is essentially a moving target, both in terms of positive potential and harm.

"We should be careful not to 'embarrass the future,'" the court said in today's opinion.

President Biden signed the “sell or ban” bill back in April 2024. The bill follows years of U.S. government accusations that TikTok's ties to China pose national security risks and expose Americans' sensitive information to the Chinese government.

There will be more to come. Refresh for updates.