• by Colin Kirkland , January 16, 2025

If TikTok is banned by the federal government, the ByteDance-owned company plans to end all operations in the U.S. on Sunday -- effectively shutting out over 170 million American users, as well as users from other regions, according to new reports.

Until now, American TikTok users have been under the impression that is a federal ban were to be finalized, TikTok would be removed from app stores on Sunday, but would still work on current users' smartphones.

But if the controversial law is upheld, the China-owned company has reportedly stated that it will lock out U.S. users immediately, which aligns with what TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco told the U.S. Supreme Court last week: “We go dark. Essentially, the platform shuts down.”

“Under TikTok's plan, people attempting to open the app will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban,” reports Reuters. “The company also plans to give users an option to download all their data so that they can take a record of their personal information.”

The Supreme Court is expected to rule before Sunday on the law's constitutionality.

According to TikTok, shutting down the app in the U.S. could also make it unavailable to users in other regions outside of the U.S., as hundreds of service providers in the U.S. make the platform accessible to users across the globe.

TikTok has said that an order is needed to “avoid interruption of services for tens of millions of TikTok users outside the United States.”

However, even if the Supreme Court upholds the law, the platform could still remain in the U.S. if there is a last-minute negotiation with a stateside buyer, or government officials extend the deadline by which TikTok must separate from China-based parent company ByteDance.

President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Monday, January 20, has said that he will pursue a “political resolution,” potentially issuing an executive order to suspend the shutdown of TikTok for 60 to 90 days.

Furthermore, despite TikTok's insistence that selling the company to a U.S. buyer would be impossible, there has been speculation this week that the Chinese government is weighing in on the decision, negotiating a potential sale with Tesla and X owner Elon Musk.

However, a TikTok spokesperson promptly told Variety that TikTok “can't be expected to comment on pure fiction,” negating any chance of the sale.

According to The Information, the company is preparing for a reversed decision later on, saying that the platform could be restored for U.S. users in a short amount of time, but estimates that one-third of its American user base would give up on the platform if the ban lasted a month.