Nile Pierre
It’s been a wild year for TikTok — bans, court battles, executive orders, and somehow, we're still scrolling. For content creators and marketers who built entire businesses around the app, the legal uncertainty isn’t just a headline; it’s an existential threat. And the bigger question is looming: what happens when the platforms we rely on aren’t just unstable, but legally up for grabs?
In January 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court decided TikTok, Inc. v. Garland, upholding the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act. Under the Act, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance must either sell TikTok to a U.S.-approved buyer or shut down operations in the U.S. completely.[1] The deadline was January 19, 2025, but as we all know, TikTok didn’t just vanish overnight.
Thanks to a 75-day executive order delay from President Trump, a scramble between tech giants, and political pressure on Apple and Google, TikTok stayed on users' phones.[2] It briefly disappeared from app stores, then reappeared, and now exists in a strange legal limbo where the ban is technically law, but enforcement is on pause while negotiations with China unfold.[3]
For creators, this mess is more than confusing, it’s disruptive. Influencers who spent years building audiences on TikTok now face the possibility that their primary platform could disappear with a swipe of a pen. Companies who rely on TikTok’s direct line to Gen Z and Millennial consumers are being forced to rethink their strategies mid-campaign. And everyday users? They’re caught in the crossfire, enjoying an app that could be ripped away without much warning.
Beyond TikTok itself, this situation sets a precedent that content creation and digital entrepreneurship can be destabilized by geopolitics. Creators have always dealt with algorithm changes and platform shifts, but facing actual legal shutdowns is new territory. It signals that the future of digital platforms might be more localized, fragmented, and subject to political control than the open global ecosystem we’re used to.
It’s also a warning to international apps hoping to break into the U.S. market: the rules can change fast, and ownership structure matters. Any app tied to a country labeled a “foreign adversary” under U.S. law could face similar scrutiny, making long-term growth plans even riskier.
The TikTok whiplash isn’t over yet. As the clock runs out on the current extension, and negotiations continue, creators, brands, and users are left with one certainty: the days of blindly trusting any one platform are over. The future will belong to those who can pivot quickly, diversify smartly, and adapt to a digital economy where law, politics, and culture collide more than ever before.
[1] NYU Law Q&A: “The Supreme Court Upheld the US TikTok Ban. What Does That Mean for Free Speech Protections?,” NYU News, Jan. 17, 2025, https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2025/january/sprigman-tiktok-q---a.html#:~:text=The%20nine%2Dmonth%20legal%20battle,the%20ban%20passed%20by%20Congress.
[2] TikTok ban: all the news on the app’s shutdown and return in the US, The Verge (Verge Staff), https://www.theverge.com/23651507/tiktok-ban-us-news.
[3] Shelby Talcott (@ShelbyTalcott), “Trump tells me they will ‘just delay’ the TikTok deal with China ‘until this thing works out,’ reiterating that it’s subject to China,” X (formerly Twitter), Apr. 17, 2025, https://x.com/ShelbyTalcott/status/1912976116819833018.