It has been almost one year since U.S. President Donald Trump intervened to prevent a ban on TikTok in the U.S. However, a looming deadline that mandates that the popular app's owner sell or be blocked for American users is putting the story back in the headlines. Here is the latest on this situation, as well as what judicial experts believe could happen next.

History of the TikTok Controversy

The U.S. has continued to delay the deadline by which Chinese-owned company ByteDance must sell its TikTok app or face being blocked in the U.S. Trump originally gave his administration until December 16 to comply with the law. That deadline was then moved to January 23, 2026, via a new executive order.

Congress first passed the TikTok ban in 2023 over concerns that the Chinese government may be able to use the app to access personal information about American users. Lawmakers also cited worries that the Chinese may be able to manipulate the app's content in an effort to threaten American interests. Former President Joe Biden signed the law at the end of his term. The legislation was then upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in January of 2025.

With the January 23 deadline looming on the horizon, the future of the short-form video app has now been thrust back into the spotlight. While TikTok's owners continue to assert that security concerns are unfounded, critics of the app believe that it remains a national threat.

In total, Trump has extended the TikTok suspension four times without any legal standing. As a result, the app has remained available to all Americans. Meanwhile, the legislators who had previously been adamant that the app posed a national security risk have largely let the issue go.

What is Next for the Future of TikTok?

So what is next for the future of the app in the U.S.? Judicial experts note that court opinions that allow the government to infringe on the right of free speech under the guise of national security rarely hold up over time. Those opposed to the court's decision to uphold the ban claim that it is a major affront to the power of the First Amendment.

Several leading First Amendment scholars expect that the highest court in the land may become more suspicious of the law. This is because banning foreign media from U.S. soil is not a normal practice. This type of behavior is more typically associated with repressive regimes.

Critics of the court's unanimous decision to uphold the ban say that it was a thin opinion with little merit. The critics also point to the fact that the opinion was issued only one week after the oral argument. In the opinion, the court detailed that privacy concerns justified the law.

Experts in national security and privacy told the court that banning the app would not significantly prevent China from collecting Americans' data. However, the court said that it was not its job to second-guess what the White House decides about global relationships and national security.

History has shown us that the courts have often intervened in decisions from the executive branch. For example, the court system allowed the government to lean on the Espionage Act to put hundreds of activists in prison for simply opposing war during the first Red Scare.

Political leaders on both sides of the issue also question the fact that the app now operates with the risk that it could be forced offline at the whim of the president. Critics of the current administration point to the fact that government officials should not be able to control social media platforms.

The president's opponents also believe that he is behind the scenes brokering a deal to have TikTok transferred to owners who share his own ideological policies. For example, Trump and his team previously claimed that a TikTok deal was done, noting that it had the approval of Chinese President Xi Jinping. The president also said that U.S. investors would be involved in the acquisition, specifically naming his allies Oracle chairman Larry Ellison and Dell Technologies' Michael Dell as part of the negotiations.

Despite Trump's claims, neither the Chinese government nor ByteDance has announced any sale. In addition, members of the Trump administration had signaled a few months ago that the deal would be formalized when the president met with Xi in October. However, those meetings finished with no deal in sight.

It is anyone's guess where the app is headed now. The only certainty is that the issue appears to be headed back into the spotlight as the January 23 deadline approaches.

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