Following decisions by Congress and the Supreme Court, Chinese-owned ByteDance has until 19 January to sell TikTok. If it fails to do so, a nationwide ban is set to come into force – despite having 170 million US users.

President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Court to delay its decision while he seeks a “political” solution. However, his second term will not begin until the day after the ban is scheduled to start.

The ban means that the app will not magically disappear from a person’s phone but rather eventually cease to function thanks to a lack of updates. New users will not be able to download the app from the Apple or Google stores.

Professor V.S. Subrahmanian of Northwestern University’s Security & AI Lab told NBC Chicago that TikTok operates in a manner similar to a pipe, watching something on the app is requesting information from the app.

‘And flowing down from the other side either a response to a request from me or of their own volition, there’s data coming from the TikTok side to me and my phone. If that pipe is removed or blocked in the middle, then this flow cannot happen,’ Subrahmanian said.

The proposed ban will put pressure on TikTok creators who will have to shift their focus to other platforms such as YouTube and Instagram.

Jess Maddox, an assistant professor at the University of Alabama told CNN that the ban would be ‘catastrophic’ for creators.

‘A TikTok ban would be absolutely catastrophic for the creators and the small businesses who rely on it. I’ve spent my career talking to creators and influencers, they are resilient, they’ll pivot, but it will be a struggle in the meantime and take a hit to them financially.’

In April 2024, Congress passed a bill giving ByteDance nine months to find a US-approved buyer. The bill was signed into law by president Joe Biden.

Lawmakers and officials says the company has links to the Chinese Communist Party, prompting concern that it could be forced to hand over data about American users to Beijing. The Justice Department has said that TikTok poses “a national-security threat of immense depth and scale”.

TikTok and ByteDance have strongly denied the allegations. Both have fielded several legal challenges against the bill, saying that it is “unconstitutional” for the implications it would have on the First Amendement.

The Supreme Court heard a final plea by TikTok’s lawyers on Friday, asking for the ban to be overturned, with owners saying even a temporary ban would have “devastating effects” on their business.

Trump may seek to reverse the ban once he assumes office, meaning it could potentially be quite short-lived. Although the he tried to ban the app himself in 2020 during his first presidency, he has now called on the Supreme Court to delay the upcoming ban.

His lawyer has filed a legal brief saying that Mr Trump “opposes banning TikTok” and is looking to find a solutions “through political means once he takes office”. The president-elect also met with TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew in December.

But he will not assume office until 20 January, while the app is set to be banned on the 19th. A lawyer representing TikTok have said if the law is not suddenly changed before then, the app will simply “go dark” for its millions of US users.