By Sheila Dang
(Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court justices on Friday expressed skepticism about a challenge from TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance against a law signed by President Joe Biden, which would force the sale or ban of the popular short-video app by Jan. 19 in the United States.
Some of the justices seemed to acknowledge Congress’ national security concerns over TikTok, given its ownership by what lawmakers deemed a foreign adversary.
Here’s what could happen on Jan. 19.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE APP?
New users will not be able to download TikTok from app stores and existing users will not be able to update the app, because the law prohibits any entity from facilitating the download or maintenance of the TikTok application. In a Dec. 13 letter, U.S. lawmakers told Apple (NASDAQ:) and Alphabet (NASDAQ:)’s Google, which operate the two main mobile app stores, that they must be ready to remove TikTok from their stores on Jan. 19.
Cloud service provider Oracle (NYSE:) could see some disruption to its work with TikTok. Oracle hosts TikTok’s U.S. user data on its servers, reviews the app’s source code and delivers the app to the app stores.
Google declined to comment, while Oracle and Apple did not respond to requests for comment.
HOW WILL USERS BE AFFECTED?
TikTok’s 170 million users in the U.S. will likely still be able to use the app because it is already downloaded on their phones, experts say. But over time, without software and security updates, the app will become unusable.
Some users have begun posting TikTok videos instructing others on how to use virtual private networks (VPNs), which mask an internet user’s location, as a way to circumvent the possible ban.
Content creators who have built businesses from their TikTok followings are preparing for the worst. Nadya Okamoto, who has 4.1 million followers and founded August, a menstrual products brand, said TikTok helped her business grow organically through viral vi