In a decision that may impact over 170 million Americans, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a law that will allow for the banning of Chinese-owned social media app, “TikTok.” 

In the decision released on Friday, Jan. 17 at 10 a.m. EST, the Supreme Court announced that it would uphold the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, despite TikTok Inc.’s claim that the law violates the First Amendment. 

This law provides that the social media app must be banned in the U.S. It may only remain if operation of the American arm of the app, or the entire app, is separated from Chinese control.

Technically, the ban will go into effect on Sunday, Jan. 19 for all U.S. TikTok users. President Joe Biden’s administration has said that they plan to leave the decision of enforcement to President-elect Donald Trump’s administration, which will begin on the following Monday, Jan. 20 at 11 a.m. 

If the ban should be supported by the Trump administration, there are still some questions about exactly how this will look. There will not be a penalty for bypassing this ban as an app user, but the company would be responsible for shutting down the app’s services in the U.S. 

This could be as simple as the app remaining downloaded on phones but showing a message that it no longer provides services in the country when opened. 

However, if the Trump administration does not support the ban, then major companies are in a risky position if they decide to keep TikTok, as the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act is already technically in place, meaning companies that continue doing business with TikTok would be violating federal law. 

The vote was per curia, meaning the decision was issued by the entire court instead of releasing the vote by individual justices. However, reasoning among justices varied in the concurring opinions. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor in particular wrote that she thinks this case obviously is one that implicates the First Amendment, disagreeing with the decision of the court to “assume without deciding” that it implicates the First Amendment. 

Besides concern from American users of the now theoretically banned app, there is rising worry among some about the implications of the wording in the recently released opinion. 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a statement on their website arguing that the decision is a “major blow to freedom of expression online.” Their concern lies in suppression of American citizens’ rights to share and receive online speech, especially the ability of the executive branch to enforce these restrictions without limit. 

Some American TikTok users will now turn to another Chinese social media app: RedNote. The app has seen an immense increase in American users, with more than a fifth of downloads in the last month coming from the U.S., according to Sensor Tower. 

In China, RedNote is known as Xiaohongshu or “little red book,” which many recognize as a reference to Mao Zedong, or communist leader Chairman Mao, and the collection of his speeches and writings. The app is highly popular in China, referred to as the Chinese Instagram, and is censored by the Chinese government. 

It remains to be seen exactly how enforcement of this ban will move forward, but that decision moves out of the hands of the judiciary, and into those of the executive branch.