The U.S. Supreme Court has ended TikTok’s nine-month legal battle, forcing leaders both within the company and in Beijing to consider a dwindling set of alternatives for keeping the popular video-sharing app alive.
TikTok’s China-based parent, ByteDance, can agree to sell the app’s U.S. operations — a path the company has said it has no interest in pursuing — or wait to see if President-elect Donald Trump makes good on his promise to orchestrate a solution. No matter the scenario, Trump promises to be at the center of the process, either by successfully stalling the ban set to take effect Sunday or approving a deal that addresses the U.S. government’s national security concerns.
“The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it,” Trump wrote Friday in a social media post. “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation.”