Okay, so, TikTok got served big time. On December 6, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was all like, “Nope, sorry,” and totally upheld a law that says TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has to sell its U.S. operations. If they don’t? Bye-bye TikTok, at least for Americans. Like, what even is life without TikTok?!
TikTok tried to say this law was, like, so unconstitutional because it messed with free speech and due process rights (you know, First and Fifth Amendments and all that). But the court was like, “Nah, national security comes first.” Apparently, the U.S. government thinks TikTok is this huge risk because, like, maybe the Chinese government could spy on Americans or mess with our content. TikTok’s like, “Um, we would never!” But, yeah, the court sided with the government.
Then, on December 13, TikTok asked for an injunction to, like, pause the whole thing while they took it to the Supreme Court, but the appeals court was like, “Yeah, no.” So then, the Supreme Court heard the case on January 10, 2025, and everyone’s still waiting for the decision. This is literally just days before the January 19 deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok or have it totally banned in the U.S. Like, the drama is real.
In a statement, TikTok said this whole thing would, “silence the voices of over 170 million Americans.” And honestly, same. Can you even imagine? They’re all hopeful the Supreme Court will save the day, but who even knows at this point.
And get this, people are already making moves to jump ship. Like, this Chinese app called Xiaohongshu (it’s called RedNote in the U.S., BTW) is suddenly so popular here because people are freaking out about losing TikTok. It’s literally the most downloaded app on iPhones right now.
Oh, and the potential buyers for TikTok are the real tea. There’s a rumor that Elon Musk might swoop in and buy TikTok. I mean, he already owns Tesla, SpaceX, Twitter, and who even knows what else, so what’s one more thing, right? But TikTok’s all like, “Nope, fake news.”
Then there are the OGs like Amazon, Microsoft, Walmart, and Oracle who could totally afford it. Plus, there’s this group led by Frank McCourt and Kevin O’Leary (yes, Shark Tank Kevin) who want to buy TikTok and, like, revamp it to make sure user data is super safe. I mean, that could be cute.
TikTok’s U.S. operations are worth, like, $40 to $50 billion, which is, like, SO much money. And with this January 19 deadline looming, people are scrambling to figure out what’s next. Like, are we all gonna have to download RedNote now? Will Elon Musk really buy it? Will TikTok be banned forever?! Stay tuned, besties, because this is, like, the social media cliffhanger of the decade.
XOXO,
Valley Girl News
Image generated by AI.
