Two Democratic lawmakers have urged Congress and President Joe Biden to extend the Jan. 19 deadline for ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, to sell its U.S. assets or face a ban. The move comes after the Supreme Court heard arguments on Friday regarding the company’s challenge to the law. A lawyer representing ByteDance argued that a sale by the deadline was unfeasible, warning that a ban would cause the app, used by 170 million Americans, to quickly shut down.
Senator Edward Markey announced plans to introduce legislation that would delay the deadline by 270 days, arguing that a ban would harm millions who rely on TikTok for social connections and their livelihoods. Representative Ro Khanna echoed these concerns, urging both Biden and President-elect Donald Trump to pause the ban to prevent severe consequences for American users. Markey emphasized that TikTok’s cultural and informational ecosystem is irreplaceable, and its removal would silence a significant portion of the population.
If the court does not block the law by Sunday, new downloads of TikTok would be banned, though existing users could still access the app for a period. However, without support from app stores or service providers, TikTok’s functionality would eventually degrade and cease to work. The White House has not yet commented on the situation.