Washington — The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a new law that would lead to a ban of the social media platform TikTok, clearing the way for the widely popular app to shutter in the U.S. as soon as Sunday.

Starting Sunday, if the company is not sold, app stores and cloud providers who continue to host it will face billions of dollars in fines.

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew thanked Donald Trump for his commitment to "finding a solution" that keeps TikTok available in the U.S. after the ruling.

The U.S. Supreme Court is viewed as open to upholding a national-security law that will shut down the video-sharing app nationwide on Sunday if it continues to be controlled by its Chinese parent company.

The first, Noel J. Francisco, who represents ByteDance, is a prominent conservative litigator who is now a partner at the Jones Day law firm. A graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Mr. Francisco clerked for Justice Antonin Scalia and served in the White House and the Justice Department in the George W. Bush administration.

In an unanimous ruling handed down on Friday morning, January 17 in TikTok v. Merrick B. Garland, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a TikTok ban that is scheduled to go into effect on Sunday, January 19 unless ByteDance — the video sharing platform's owner in Mainland China — divests itself.

The Supreme Court appeared to lean towards upholding a law that requires TikTok to be divested from Chinese parent ByteDance (BDNCE) by January 19 or face a U.S. ban, following over two hours of oral arguments in a closely-watched hearing last Friday.

The Supreme Court upheld a law that would effectively ban TikTok in the United States. Here's what to know about the potential ban.

TikTok’s only chance of avoiding a ban in the US appears to lie with incoming president Donald Trump. The ByteDance-owned social media app will be removed from Apple and Android app stores on 19 January unless the Chinese firm sells it or the Supreme Court delays a ruling signed into law by outgoing president Joe Biden.

A law signed by President Joe Biden in April requires TikTok to divest from its Chinese ownership and sell to a U.S. company or it will be shut down. If the Supreme Court declares the law unconstitutional before then, TikTok can continue to exist as it is today.

TikTok may be banned across the United States from January 19. What happens if the Chinese app is banned? How will it impact users? Is there any alternatives? Here's all you need to know.

ByteDance has said it won’t sell the short-form video platform, and TikTok’s attorney Noel Francisco stated a sale might never be possible under the conditions set in the law. Francisco urged the justices to enter a temporary pause that would allow ...