U.S. TikTok ban update: What you should know, the latest

In just over a month, TikTok users in Alabama and across the U.S. may stop seeing dance videos, cute pets, and more if the app is banned in the country.

If TikTok is not sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance by January 19, 2025, app stores could face hefty fines if they continue to host the app under U.S. law, according to CNN.

Although the app would continue to work on phones where it has already been downloaded after the ban, the lack of updates could eventually cause the app to become buggy and unusable.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday unanimously rejected TikTok’s request to strike down the law and rejected the company’s challenge to the law.

According to the Associated Press, TikTok and ByteDance are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court.

“Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was designed and enforced based on inaccurate, erroneous and hypothetical information, resulting in total censorship of the American people,” TikTok spokesman Michael Hughes said in a statement.

Hughes added in his statement that the law “will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the United States and around the world on January 19, 2025.”

Since the news, people have used the platform to voice their concerns and fears if the ban comes into effect in the US.

Ophelia Nichols, the Alabama TikTok star better known as Mama Tot, raised some of these concerns back in March of this year when she called on Congress not to ban the app at a protest in Washington.

“I think they just don’t understand what the app means to so many people,” Nichols said in a TikTok video. “For someone to take that away, you better think about it.”

However, TikTok could become a lifeline from President-elect Donald Trump.

The ban comes a day before his inauguration, but he could ask Congress to repeal the law, direct the attorney general not to enforce the law, or he could announce that TikTok will no longer be subject to the law after Inauguration Day, according to CNN .

Trump has upended his support for the app. He attempted to ban the app during his first term, but has shown support for the app more recently.

“Honestly, there are a lot of people on TikTok who love it. “There are a lot of little kids on TikTok who go crazy without it,” Trump told CNBC earlier this year.