US Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, leaving app's fate to Trump

I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States,

Chew said in a statement, while reiterating the company's free speech claims

China is adapting in real-time to the ruling,

said Craig Singleton, a China expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, which submitted a brief in the case against TikTok

TikTok's scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the government's national security concerns,

the Supreme Court said in the unsigned opinion

Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to millions of Americans' sensitive data,

Garland added

Beijing needs TikTok more than Washington does,

said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow and expert in US-China relations at the Hudson Institute think tank

Oh my god, I'm speechless,

said Lourd Asprec, 21, of Houston, who has amassed 16.3 million followers on TikTok and makes an estimated US$80,000 a year from the platform

This decision’s going to be made by the next president anyway,

Biden told reporters

We have to create a platform where people feel 100 percent comfortable letting their children use it, 100 percent comfortable that their data is not being mined by somebody, or that an adversary is not seeing any information about them,

he said

I almost, like, don't know how to define myself without TikTok,

content creator Ayman Chaudhary sighed, reflecting the consternation of millions over US authorities' scheduled banning Sunday of the hugely popular app

I started five years ago in 2020 during (the Covid-19) quarantine, and I've been employed, like, through TikTok, and now it just feels like suddenly I'm unemployed,

said Ayman, an avid reader who offers book recommendations on the platform, earning enough from ads and sponsors to pay her bills

I'm more sad than shocked,

the 24-year-old Chaudhary told AFP

Again, what people like about TikTok is that it's easy and convenient. The more users have to use workarounds, the more attractive other platforms will start to look, and as more people go elsewhere, then the reason to be on TikTok will diminish accordingly."

Sarah Kreps, professor and director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University, told Newsweek

Some VPNs use poorly implemented encryption and make them vulnerable to attacks. Free VPNs might contain malware that steal data or damage devices,

said Kreps

We consistently see significant spikes in VPN demand when access to online platforms is restricted, and this situation is no different."

Lauren Hendry Parsons, privacy advocate at ExpressVPN, told CNBC

It ultimately goes up to me, so you're going to see what I'm going to do. Congress has given me the decision, so I'll be making the decision."

Trump, in a reported phone call with CNN's Pamela Brown

ByteDance and its Chinese Communist masters had nine months to sell TikTok before the Sunday deadline. The very fact that Communist China refuses to permit its sale reveals exactly what TikTok is: a communist spy app. The Supreme Court correctly rejected TikTok's lies and propaganda masquerading as legal arguments."

Republican Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, on X, formerly Twitter

The CCP has been put on notice that the American people’s data is no longer for the taking. The incoming Trump administration must be prepared to uphold this TikTok divestment law and put the privacy and security of America first,

Pence said

It’s not a ban of a popular social media platform, but its forced divestiture from a foreign adversary: the Chinese Communist Party,

Shapiro said, lauding the Supreme Court’s prompt unanimity to uphold the law just seven days after hearing oral arguments over the case

To our American users, thank you for making TikTok a rich and vibrant space, for surprising and delighting us every day,

Chew said

We know a lot of things are up in the air, with the TikTok ban scheduled to go into effect this weekend,

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday before the court’s decision