For many US content creators, TikTok is their main platform - with some already planning to make the switch to Instagram if the ban goes ahead.

Let's take a look at the biggest US TikTokers, according to Tokfluence:

1. Former competitive dancer Charli D'amelio, 155.8m followers, who posts videos dancing to trending songs
2. Singer BellaPoarch, 94.2m followers, who created TikTok's most liked video of all time, lip-syncing to "M to the B" by Millie B
3. Singer, actress and podcaster AddisonRae, with 88.5m followers
4. Zach King, with 82m followers, who uses a sense of illusion and magic through visual effects
5. Award-winnnig actor and rapper Will Smith, who has 74.9m followers - who gives viewers an insight into his day-to-day life

How TikTok's China links raised national security questionspublished at 16:49 Greenwich Mean Time 17 January

16:49 GMT 17 January

Gary O'Donoghue
Senior North America correspondent

Image source, Reuters

US-China relations at the beginning of the Biden presidency used to be characterised by the three C's - Competition, Cooperation and Confrontation.

The cooperation bit is practically non-existent. But competition and confrontation are alive and kicking.

In the case of TikTok, the outgoing administration believes the supposed distinction between the Chinese Communist party and owners of TikTok, ByteDance, is illusory.

And that's why TikTok can't be treated as a normal commercial adversary - it has to be confronted as a national security threat.

Both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have flip-flopped on banning TikTok - politically understandable when it's used by 170 million Americans. But Donald Trump is a much more transactional politician.

So as he moves into the White House, exploiting the legal wriggle room to keep the TikTok ban from being fully enforced could well be a useful negotiating point for leverage on other issues.

Meanwhile, cyber hacks originating in China are a regular occurrence.

For sensitive private and public bodies in the US, the national security threat from a social media company might feel a little way down the priority pecking order.

TikTok could pull the plug, or politics could change the outcomepublished at 16:40 Greenwich Mean Time 17 January

16:40 GMT 17 January

Lily Jamali
North America Technology Correspondent

What exactly will Friday’s Supreme Court decision mean for TikTok’s 170 million American users?

There had been speculation that without a reprieve, the app might fade into oblivion over time, with updates no longer being delivered to US users which would leave the app increasingly glitchy and unusable.

But TikTok seems poised to take much more decisive action. The app’s lawyers told Supreme Court justices last week that absent their intervention, the app would “go dark” in the US.

TikTok could simply pull the plug, meaning in an instant, the app would cease to work for current users in the United States.

New users, meanwhile, could no longer download the app from the Google or Apple app stores.

But politics could change the outcome. President Biden has said his administration has no plans to intervene on his last day in office, meaning any attempts to lift the ban will be left to President-Elect Donald Trump after he is sworn in on Monday.

Trump has said he has spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping about topics including TikTok. And told CNN Friday after the decision: "It ultimately goes up to me, so you're going to see what I'm going to do."

Imran Rahman-Jones
Technology reporter

Image source, Reuters

If TikTok really does go dark (and it’s a big "if"), creators will have to find alternative places to share their videos.

Some have gone to Chinese platform RedNote, which has seen 700,000 new users in the past two days.

There have been some light-hearted interactions between American and Chinese users on the site - including jokes from both sides about “Chinese spies”.

One Chinese user asked the swathe of new “TikTok refugees” for help with their English homework, and received hundreds of replies.

But the reality is creators go where their audiences are.

In the US, that means the main beneficiaries could be closer to home: YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels or Snapchat.

All three platforms are owned by American tech giants.

Image source, Getty Images

Donald Trump will be sworn in as the next US president on Monday. And TikTok is set to be banned on Sunday.

So what is he thinking about the Supreme Court's decision today?

He just posted this comment on social media:

Image source, Getty Images

24 April 2024: Biden signs bipartisan TikTok bill, which gave Chinese parent company, ByteDance, six months to sell its controlling stake or be blocked in the US.

7 May 2024: TikTok files a lawsuit aiming to block the law, calling it an "extraordinary intrusion on free speech rights".

2 August 2024: The US government files a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the social media company of unlawfully collecting children's data and failing to respond when parents tried to delete their children's accounts.

6 December 2024: TikTok's bid to overturn a law which would see it banned or sold in the US from early 2025 is rejected by a federal appeals court.

27 December 2024: President-elect Donald Trump asks the US Supreme Court to delay the upcoming ban while he works on a "political resolution".

10 January 2025: The Supreme Court's nine justices hear from lawyers representing TikTok and content creators that the ban would be a violation of free speech protections for the platform's more than 170 million users in the US.

17 January 2025: The US Supreme Court upholds the law that could lead to TikTok being banned within days over national security concerns.

19 January 2025: The deadline for TikTok to sell its US stake or face a ban. TikTok has indicated it will "go dark" on this day.

TikTok is already banned in India, which was one of the app's largest markets before it was outlawed there in June 2020.

The authorities in Iran, Nepal, Afghanistan and Somalia have also previously imposed bans on the app.

The UK government and Parliament banned TikTok from staff work devices in 2023, as has the European Commission.

The BBC also advised staff to delete TikTok from corporate phones because of security fears.

Unless TikTok pulls the plug on Sunday, it won’t just disappearpublished at 15:57 Greenwich Mean Time 17 January

15:57 GMT 17 January

Zoe Kleinman
Technology editor, BBC News

I have changed my mind many times this week about how the Supreme Court might rule.

Ruling against a law established with national security at its heart would have been a monumental shot across the bows by the US’ top court - not only politically but also in placing the US’ entire security services under scrutiny. The implication would have been that they had got it wrong.

We may live in unprecedented times, but that outcome still felt like the most unlikely.

Not sure I would have put money on it though - and that’s because TikTok also has a powerful new ally. President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration is not as anti-TikTok as it was the last time he was in power, and the man himself says he has a “warm spot in his heart” for the platform.

TikTok has tried hard. It set up Project Texas, designed to keep US user data completely separate from the east, it has always denied ever sharing user data with the Chinese state, and its CEO Shou zi Chew lives in Singapore not China. But in the end, none of it was enough for the judges.

So - will TikTok US now slowly begin to wither on the vine, with no new US updates or users, will TikTok itself retaliate by switching it off altogether as threatened - or will it be sold to YouTuber Mr Beast?

Unless the firm decides to pull the plug itself on Sunday it won’t just disappear - and Biden says he is leaving the decision on the ban to his successor, who takes office on Monday.

Unprecedented times indeed.

For now the US national security folks have a new headache: TikTok users are embracing a new app called RedNote instead. Which is unequivocally Chinese-owned, with all the same baggage.

President-elect Donald Trump has just reacted to the Supreme Court's decision, telling a CNN reporter that the decision to implement the ban on TikTok will be up to him.

"It ultimately goes up to me, so you're going to see what I'm going to do," he said, without suggesting what his decision could be.

The Supreme Court has upheld the law that could ban the app if it is not sold by its Chinese owner by Sunday.

Imran Rahman-Jones
Technology reporter

The Supreme Court judgement highlighted TikTok’s alleged links to the Chinese government - allegations which TikTok has always denied.

The Court says government's "national security concerns" need to be taken into account.

“TikTok has special characteristics - a foreign adversary’s ability to leverage its control over the platform to collect vast amounts of personal data from 170 million US users,” the decision says.

The judges acknowledge data collection is common everywhere these days.

But they say the law is "designed to prevent China - a designated foreign adversary - from leveraging its control over ByteDance Ltd. [TikTok's parent company] to capture the personal data of US TikTok users."

Lily Jamali
North America Technology Correspondent

TikTok’s appeal to the Supreme Court has been unanimously struck down by the US Supreme Court.

Scepticism of TikTok’s First Amendment challenge came across during questioning by the nine justices during oral arguments last week.

In their decision today, they acknowledged that data collection and analysis is a common practice in the digital age, but added:

Without political intervention, the app is set to go dark on Sunday.

The White House has just released a statement following the Supreme Court's decision.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stresses that President Biden's position on TikTok has been that it should be available in the United States, but under American ownership or ownership that addresses national security concerns.

"President Biden’s position on TikTok has been clear for months, including since Congress sent a bill in overwhelming, bipartisan fashion to the President’s desk," she says in the statement.

Jean-Pierre says, "given the sheer fact of timing", the actions to implement the law will fall to President-elect Donald Trump's administration.

Trump will be sworn into office on Monday.

TikTok now needs a last-minute political or financial deal to survive in USpublished at 15:30 Greenwich Mean Time 17 January

15:30 GMT 17 January

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

The Supreme Court did not give TikTok a last-minute stay of execution.

In an unsigned opinion with no dissents, the justices sided with a lower court that upheld the constitutionality of the law that could ban the popular social media service if it is not sold by midnight Sunday.

While the court’s opinion is narrow - the justices acknowledge the time pressure they were under to issue this decision - it firmly establishes that the constitutional protections of free speech contained in the First Amendment to the US Constitution do not save TikTok.

In fact, the justices found that the TikTok ban, which Congress justified on the basis of protecting national security by preventing an adversary from collecting troves of data on tens of millions of American users, had a lower bar to clear than laws that directly regulate speech content.

The court sidestepped other tricky issues - such as whether concerns about Chinese influence on TikTok’s algorithm justified a ban.

This exhausts the last legal recourse TikTok had to avoid the ban from going into effect. If the popular app is to survive, it will have to rely on a last-minute deal - political or financial.

The courts have spoken.

The decision was unanimous among the nine justices to uphold the lower court's law that will ban the app on Sunday.

In the decision, Justice Sonia Sotomayor has an "opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment" - meaning she agrees with upholding the law, but is not necessarily in agreement with the same reasoning.

She writes that she sees "no reason to assume without deciding that the Act implicated the First Amendment because our precedent leaves no doubt that it does".

Ana Faguy
US Reporter

Image source, Aimee Aubin

We've just learned that the TikTok ban is set to be implemented this weekend - something TikTok creators were concerned about, and Erika Thompson is one of them.

Thompson - a Texas beekeeper who uses the platform to teach tens of millions of viewers about bees by taking viewers inside hives - says the ban will be both a "significant" financial loss and the loss of an educational tool used by millions.

"A lot of people use it as an educational platform whereas I think a lot of the other platforms focus more on entertainment and of course there is that element on TikTok but I think it would be a real loss," she tells the BBC.

Thompson says no other social media platforms give her the reach she has on TikTok. Her first video on the platform received more than 50 million views in 24 hours, she says.

"There are a lot of other people on the platform offering educational content or informative content, content just like myself where they may not have those same opportunities on other platforms to reach as many people and I think that's the biggest loss and that's what should be focused on, beyond the financial aspect is the loss that we as a society - the people who use TikTok - will certainly feel."

As we reported earlier, US President Joe Biden - who is leaving office on Monday - has indicated he will not be enforcing a ban on the app.

US media reports a Biden official has said the outgoing administration will leave the TikTok ban in the hands of President-elect Trump.

This means the implementation and enforcement of the law will fall to the incoming president.

Trump - who will be sworn into office on Monday, and called for the ban in the first place - has done a U-turn on TikTok and says he'll find a way to save it.

Let's get some lines from the Supreme Court's judgement released just minutes ago.

"There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community," the decision reads.

"But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary," the statement continues.

"For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights.

"The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is affirmed. It is so ordered," the statement ends.

Kerry Allen
Chinese Media Analyst

Long-term, Beijing has disputed suggestions that TikTok poses any sort of security threat to overseas users.

Media have often suggested that attempts to suppress the platform’s growth are politically-motivated, and that Western audiences will simply move over to other apps they view to have superior functions to America’s homegrown social media offerings like Facebook and X.

This might be evidenced this week by “TikTok refugees” migrating over to another Chinese app: RedNote, which has soared up the app charts.

There are media hopes that Trump may save the platform, with some Chinese outlets reporting he’s “repeatedly shown support to TikTok”, despite attempting to ban it when he was previously president. Outlets have also noted the TikTok CEO is expected to attend his inauguration.

There is a feeling that if TikTok does end up being banned, the US will be hypocritical on its values of freedom and democracy.

The China News Service agency quoted one American social media user earlier this week who has migrated over to RedNote as saying: “The US government frames TikTok as a national security issue, but in fact, it is trying to restrict American free speech.”

The Supreme Court has upheld a law that would ban TikTok in the US unless its China-based parent company ByteDance sells the platform by 19 January.

ByteDance challenged the law and argued it violates free speech protections for the app's more than 170 million users in the US.

But that argument was rejected by the nation's highest court, meaning TikTok must now find an approved buyer for the American version of the app or face a ban.

US officials and lawmakers have accused ByteDance of being linked to the Chinese government and have raised national security concerns over TikTok.

The US Supreme Court has upheld a law that could lead to TikTok being banned within days over national security concerns.

This is breaking news so stick with us, we will have more information very soon.