A protestor holds a sign outside the U.S. Supreme Court Building.Photo: Getty Images
BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — The popular social media app TikTok is on the verge of going dark in the United States.
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the federal law requiring TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest itself from the app, or else it will be banned in the U.S.
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The ban is set to go into effect this Sunday, one day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The outgoing Biden administration said it will leave the enforcement of the TikTok ban up to the incoming Trump administration.
President-elect Trump vowed to save TikTok during his presidential campaign and urged the Supreme Court to pause the law banning the app while he attempted to negotiate a resolution.
Following the Supreme Court's decision Friday, Mr. Trump posted on social media, "The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it. My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!"
Meanwhile, WBZ NewsRadio asked local TikTok users for their reactions to the looming ban.
"I’m still convinced it’s not going to get banned, and there’s multiple rumors about like certain CEOs taking over the app, so that’s kind of the mindset I have," one woman said.
"I’m doubtful it will actually go through, but if it does, I guess I’m going to have to find another platform," another person told WBZ NewsRadio.
"We were honestly sad, we were talking about it last night, but obviously there’s nothing you can do about it," a duo said.
Most people told WBZ NewsRadio that while they like the app, they would not mind if it went away.
"I spend so much time on the app that I feel, like, it’s happy that an external source is getting rid of it for me, instead of me having FOMO about missing out on the app," said one woman.
"It’s very entertaining and I feel like I get a lot of, I guess, joy out of it, but I’ll find other ways to fill that gap if it goes away," said another person.
WBZ’s James Rojas (@JamesRojasMMJ) reports.