In an unanimous ruling handed down on Friday morning, January 17 in TikTok v. Merrick B. Garland, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a TikTok ban that is scheduled to go into effect on Sunday, January 19 unless ByteDance — the video sharing platform's owner in Mainland China — divests itself.

The US Supreme Court has upheld the law mandating China-based ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok by Sunday, or face an effective ban of the popular video-sharing app in the United States. The ruling underscores growing national security concerns tied to TikTok’s data collection practices and alleged links to the Chinese government,

The Supreme Court upheld a law that would effectively ban TikTok in the United States. Here's what to know about the potential ban.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew thanked Donald Trump for his commitment to "finding a solution" that keeps TikTok available in the U.S. after the ruling.

ByteDance has said it won’t sell the short-form video platform, and TikTok’s attorney Noel Francisco stated a sale might never be possible under the conditions set in the law. Francisco urged the justices to enter a temporary pause that would allow ...

TikTok, ByteDance and several users of the app sued to halt the ban, arguing it would suppress free speech for the millions of Americans who use the platform.

Starting Sunday, if the company is not sold, app stores and cloud providers who continue to host it will face billions of dollars in fines.

In an unsigned opinion, the Court sided with the national security concerns about TikTok rather than the First Amendment rights. There were no noted dissents.

The TikTok situation highlights the complexity of enforcing regulation compliance on digital platforms supported by companies with global reach and operations. The outcome of TikTok's legal battles will influence future cases involving data privacy, national security and foreign ownership of digital platforms.

Lawyers for TikTok and the US government both pleaded their cases in oral arguments before the court on Friday, with TikTok charging that a ban would infringe on the First Amendme

Given ByteDance’s adamance that the company is not for sale ... appears ready to shut its lights off Sunday and “go dark,” as the company’s lawyer, Noel Francisco, told the Supreme Court Friday. TikTok has fought the ban for years.

The U.S. Supreme Court is viewed as open to upholding a national-security law that will shut down the video-sharing app nationwide on Sunday if it continues to be controlled by its Chinese parent company.