Clock ticking for TikTok as US Supreme Court upholds banning law

Time could be running out for TikTok in the USA after the country's Supreme Court upheld a federal law banning the app. The court unanimously upheld the law, which will see the video app banned unless it is sold by its China-based parent company.

The ban is proposed due to the app's ties to China - which lawmakers in the country believe means it poses a national security risk. The Supreme Court rules this overcomes concerns about limiting speech by the app or its 170 million users in America.

A sale does not appear imminent and, although experts have said the app will not disappear from existing users’ phones once the law takes effect on January 19, new users will not be able to download it and updates will not be available - the Press Association reports - which will eventually mean the app is unworkable.

The decision came against the backdrop of unusual political agitation by US President-elect Donald Trump, who vowed that he could negotiate a solution and the administration of President Joe Biden, which has signalled it will not enforce the law beginning on Sunday, his final full day in office.

“TikTok should remain available to Americans but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement, noting that actions to implement the law will fall to the new administration.

Mr Trump, mindful of TikTok’s popularity – and his own 14.7 million followers on the app – finds himself on the opposite side of the argument from prominent Senate Republicans, who fault TikTok’s Chinese owner for not finding a buyer before now.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who