The Supreme Court has sided with the Biden Administration on a law that could ban TikTok in the coming days. In a unanimous decision, the court the law prevailedwho wrote in an unsigned opinion that “TikTok’s scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, along with the large swaths of sensitive data collected on the platform, justify the difference in treatment to address concerns of national Government security.”

The decision marks the end of several legal challenges to TikTok over a law, passed last springwhich requires ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban in the United States. It comes amid rising tensions between the US and China, and just days after the transition to the Biden Administration limit exports of GPUs used for AI applications.

In one statementTikTok said that “unless the Biden Administration…gives a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers who commit to non-implementation” immediately, it will unfortunately be forced to go dark on January 19. “The statements issued today by both the Biden White House and the Department of Justice fail to provide the necessary clarity and assurance to service providers that are essential to the continued existence of TikTok up to 170 million American,” it said.

White House officials said Thursday that the Biden Administration will not execute the ban on President Joe Biden’s last day in office. Incoming President Donald Trump, who will be sworn in the day after the ban is supposed to take effect, has proposed he wants to “save” the app. That has led to some speculation that he might instruct the Justice Department not to enforce the law or find some another arrangement which will allow the app to remain accessible.

“The Supreme Court’s decision is awaited, and everyone should respect it,” Trump wrote a post in Truth Social. “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I need to have time to review the situation.” she also said that he discussed TikTok with China’s Xi Jinping on Friday, but did not provide details. Earlier in the week, The Washington Post reports Trump is considering an executive order which will give TikTok an additional “60 or 90 days” to comply with the law. TikTok CEO Shou Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration wherever he goes sit next to Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

In a brief statement shared on TikTokChew thanked Trump, but did not say whether the app would go dark this weekend when the ban goes into effect. “I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that will keep TikTok available in the United States,” he said. “This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship.” Representatives for TikTok, Google, Apple and Oracle (which hosts TikTok’s US data) did not respond to questions about their plans to comply with the law.

In a separate opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch acknowledged the uncertainty of TikTok’s future. “Even what happens next for TikTok remains unclear,” he wrote. “All I can say is that, at this time and under these constraints, the problem appears to be real and the answer to it is not unconstitutional.”

Free speech groups criticized the law and the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold it. “The Supreme Court’s decision is extremely disappointing, allowing the government to shut down an entire platform and the rights of free speech largely based on fear-mongering and speculation,” said Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a statement. “By refusing to block this ban, the Supreme Court gives the executive branch unprecedented power to silence speech it doesn’t like, increasing the danger that sweeping ‘national security’ invocations will prevail of our constitutional rights.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, said in a statement that “banning or forcing the sale of a social media app will do almost nothing to protect Americans’ data privacy — only comprehensive consumer privacy legislation can achieve that goal.”

TikTok users also strongly opposed the ban. Before the law was passed, legion of fans Congressional representatives called their offices, urging them not to support the bill. The move could have unexpected consequences as some members of Congress accused TikTok, which encourages users to make calls, of “interfering with the legislative process.” Recently, TikTok fans have pushed many unknown apps, including a Chinese social media app known as “RedNote” or Xiaohongshu, at the top of the app stores as they look for alternatives.

Update, January 17, 2025, 9:45 AM PT: This post has been updated to add details from a statement made by Shou Chew.

Update, January 17, 2025, 10PM ET: TikTok statement added.