It's the end of an era TikTok users In the US, the app will be officially banned later this month.

The United States Supreme Court voted in a unanimous decision on Friday, January 17, to protect Americans from the Foreign Adversarial Controlled Applications Act, a law that effectively bans the app from the country. CBS News. TikTok will be removed from smartphone app stores when the law takes effect on Sunday, January 19.

Congress passed legislation last year that makes it illegal for providers (such as Google or Apple) to "distribute, maintain or update" an app controlled by a foreign adversary (China, Russia, North Korea or Iran). Government officials have been wary of TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance accessing the data of US citizens for fear of spying. ByteDance, meanwhile, claims the ban violates First Amendment protections related to free speech.

TikTok may remain available if it separates from ByteDance, and the president may grant a 90-day extension if the sale is ongoing.

The entire slate of Supreme Court votes to uphold the law Social media starsCelebrities and other users should leave the platform for good.

"I think everybody loses," Mark D'Amelio said ABC News Studios' "Impact x Nightline" special From May 2024. “I think small business loses. I think the politicians will also lose."

Mark and his wife, Heidi D'AmelioSocial media mavens dad Dixie And Charliewhose online dance has gone viral In 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“We didn't call ourselves TikTok's first family,” Mark, 56, added in the ABC News special. “It's hard to believe that many people sat down and watched a video. I think the ability to turn someone obscure into famous overnight, I don't think there's any other platform like it.

There's also the possibility that an American owner could buy the app from ByteDance — and Shark Tank the star Kevin O'Leary Already made an informal offer.

"We want to make it clear that we are a buyer," O'Leary, 70, said Yahoo! money Friday, January 10. “We have got a legitimate syndicate. We're ready to accumulate $20 billion, and we don't need algorithms. We don't want algorithms."

O'Leary formed a consortium with other entrepreneurs including billionaires Frank McCourt Jrto buy the app for $20 billion.

"You have to assume that knowing they had an offer, we found a way to get it to them," he told the outlet, referring to ByteDance's reluctance to accept the offer. “I know all the shareholders. Not so Frank. We know who they are. We have known this for two years. I know them personally.”