TikTok to be banned in the US on January 19 – unless the Supreme Court accepts it Last-ditch legal bid Its Chinese owner ByteDance believes doing so is unconstitutional.

But even if the country’s top judicial body agrees with lower courts and Congress that the platform poses a national security threat, will that actually stop Americans from using it?

Is there a way around the ban — or can President-elect Donald Trump find a way to block a law he opposes even if a court upholds it?

Whatever happens to TikTok, who will benefit from the uncertainty that hangs over its future?

The most likely way to ban TikTok in the United States is to order app stores (such as the Google Play Store and Apple App Store) to ban downloads in the region.

U.S. lawmakers have told tech companies to be ready to remove the app from their stores if the ban goes into effect.

This will mean people can no longer access TikTok using legal means – although it also means people who already have TikTok will still be able to use it on their phones.

Since the app will no longer be publicly available, new updates will no longer be available to US users – which will make the app more buggy and ultimately unusable.

Not to mention, many updates are provided to fix security holes in the app, so if TikTok stops getting updates, hackers could potentially target millions of devices.

Of course, there are ways to get around this ban.

A number of videos have been circulating on TikTok telling users how to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) – a method of making it appear as if you are in another region.

The app store area on most devices can also be changed, so anyone in theory could access apps from other countries – although this could cause other problems, not to mention potentially violating the terms of service agreement.

It is also possible to modify the device to install apps downloaded from the internet – which may violate copyright laws – and has its own risks. However, the government also anticipated this and therefore also proposed banning “internet hosting services” from allowing people to access the app.

So if the ban takes this form, it seems likely that those determined to use TikTok after the ban takes effect will be able to do so — but it won’t be the experience they’re used to.

There are other avenues governments can take in the future — for example, after India banned TikTok in 2020, it ordered internet providers to block access to the app entirely.

Even if people do use a VPN, there are still a number of ways TikTok could theoretically tell if a person lives in the United States and simply show them a screen that says the app isn’t available in their country.

It remains to be seen whether TikTok will decide to assist the government in enforcing its own ban, but Reuters reports that it plans to do so.

TikTok’s own lawyer told the Supreme Court that he believed the app would be “delisted” in the United States unless a ruling was made in its favor.

The complexity of the problem means even experts don’t know what will happen next.

Georgia Tech professor Milton L. Mueller, who filed a legal brief in support of TikTok, said that because of the extent to which the United States can expand its enforcement powers, it is unclear how technically effective a ban would be if it were imposed. What will happen is difficult to determine.

But he said it was clear it would have an impact on users and the internet itself.

“This would fully legitimize the fragmentation of the internet along national or jurisdictional lines,” he said.

Trump made clear he did not want the law to take effect and asked the Supreme Court to delay its implementation while he sought a “political solution.”

But if the justices uphold the ruling, Trump does not have the authority to overturn the law, which would take effect the day before he returns to office.

But he could simply tell the Justice Department not to enforce it.

The government will effectively tell Apple and Google that they will not be punished for continuing to allow access to TikTok, meaning the law will remain in place but will be essentially redundant.

Obviously, these companies may feel uncomfortable breaking the law, even if they are told it is okay to do so, since it would effectively require them to trust the president’s promise not to face punishment.

TikTok said it would have 170 million users in the United States by 2024, spending an average of 51 minutes a day on the app.

Insider Intelligence analyst Jasmine Enberg said banning TikTok or reducing its availability creates a huge opportunity for its big tech competitors.

“Meta-owned Instagram Reels and Google-owned YouTube Shorts are best suited for displaced users, creators and advertisers,” she said.

Ms Engberg said Facebook could also benefit, as with all Meta platforms. Controversial policy changes Owner Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement may lessen its appeal.

Users bring advertisers – so a ban could bring a huge economic boost to these platforms.

Forrester said: “CMOs we spoke with confirmed that they would move media dollars to Meta and Google if they could no longer advertise on TikTok — the same behavior we saw when India banned TikTok in 2020 ” Lead Analyst Kelsey Chickering.

Lemon8, also owned by ByteDance, was where people could go after the ban was imposed, but the law stipulates that it also applies to other apps owned or operated by the company. This means that Lemon8 may also face the problem of being inaccessible in the United States.

Other potential winners include Twitch, which is known for hosting live broadcasts, a popular feature on TikTok. Twitch is particularly well-known to gamers, although it continues to grow as other content continues to evolve.

Other Chinese-funded platforms, Such as Xiaohongshu – known as RedNote among US users – has experienced rapid growth in the US and UK.

Still, some believe existing apps cannot truly replace TikTok, especially its feature TikTok Shop, which allows users to buy products directly from videos and has made a lot of money for American creators.

Craig Atkinson, CEO of digital marketing agency Code3, said there was no direct competitor that people could easily switch to, noting that his agency would be signing new contracts with clients by December at the latest. Create a TikTok store marketing campaign.

So far, ByteDance is firmly not considering selling its high-quality assets in the United States.

But if it is indeed banned – will that change when a president who prides himself on the “art of the deal” returns to the White House?

Potential buyers continue to line up Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday However, the company is considering selling to billionaire Elon Musk TikTok has since described this as “pure fiction.”

Former Trump Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt have previously expressed interest in buying the company.

McCourt, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, said he has received a $20 billion verbal commitment from a consortium of investors to bid for TikTok.

There’s also an owner of a more left-wing — and less serious — proposal.

The world’s largest YouTuber MrBeast claims he is now campaigning for a deal After a billionaire asked him about it.

Although it may seem like a joke, he has a huge financial incentive to try to save the app – MrBeast has more than 100 million followers on TikTok.