TikTok ban upheld by U.S. Supreme Court. Here’s what could happen next

globalnews.ca:

TikTok in the United States is days away from shutting down after the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday allowed the federal law forcing a nationwide ban to take effect.However, there remain questions over whether it could still be reversed.The uncertainty over the app’s future may have ripple effects in Canada, experts say, although Ottawa says what happens in the U.S.

won’t impact its own moves to curtail TikTok’s business.The Supreme Court’s ruling upholds a law passed in April that sets a Sunday deadline for TikTok’s China-based owner ByteDance to sell the social media app or face a ban. TikTok’s U.S.

operations are also set to wind down in light of the ban.U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News on Thursday the new administration, which takes office Monday, will keep TikTok alive in the U.S.

if there is a viable deal, though did not detail the specific action Trump would take.It’s not clear what authority Trump has to intervene, although he could direct the Justice Department not to enforce the law, which threatens sanctions against the technology companies that make the app available and host it.Pam Bondi, Trump’s nominee for U.S. attorney general, dodged a question during her Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday on whether she’d uphold a TikTok ban.“We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark,” said Waltz, pointing to a provision in the law allowing for a 90-day extension if there is “significant progress” toward a divestiture.“Essentially that buys President Trump time to keep TikTok going,” Waltz said.ByteDance has stood firm in its refusal to sell TikTok and part with the platform’s highly lucrative algorithm.