A smartphone displaying an image of the Chinese social network TikTok which is used extensively by teenagers and a ban sign in Paris in France on January 16, 2025.Hans LucasAFP/Getty ImagesBy Solcyr BurgaJanuary 17, 2025 4:24 PM ESTThe fate of Tiktok is now in the hands of President-elect Donald Trump after the Supreme Court upheld the ban on the viral video app Friday. The Biden Administration announced it would not enforce the ban, which was set to go into effect on Sunday, Jan. 19, the day before Trumps inauguration.The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it, Trump said in a Truth Social post on Friday. My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation.Trump previously asked the Supreme Court to pause the ban from going into effect so his Administration could look for a political resolution. But the President-elects current position on TikTok is a reverse from his 2020 stance, when Trump sought to ban TikTok. A federal judge blocked the act in December 2020. You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points and there are those that say that TikTok has something to do with it, Trump said in a post-election news conference in December. The U.S. first began investigating TikTok in 2019, two years after the Chinese company ByteDance acquired Musical.ly, which was then merged into TikTok. The ban comes after President Joe Biden signed a bipartisan law last April forcing TikToks parent company ByteDance to divest from the app or be banned in the U.S. citing national security concerns given the apps connections to China. During Supreme Court arguments, Department of Justice Solicitor General Elizaveth Prelogar claimed China could harvest the data of U.S. users which could then be used to harass, rescruit, and spy on the United States. ByteDance has said that it will not sell TikTok and claimed that the law infringes on the First Amendment rights of the company and the 170 million American users. "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 court said in its decision. "But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikToks data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.In a statement Friday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that given the timing of the ban, actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday.Earlier on Friday, Trump announced that he had spoken to Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the two talked about TikTok, along with other topics. President Xi and I will do everything possible to make the World more peaceful and safe, he said.Negotiations regarding the future of the social media platform appear to be in motion. In December, Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew. While the Supreme Court result did not fall in favor with the desires of TikTok executives, Chew still thanked Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States, in a video posted after the Supreme Court decision Friday, in which he shared that there had been more than 60 billion views of Trumps content on the app. Chew also shared that the company was still working hard to ensure the app would still be available to its users in the U.S. "TikTok itself is a fantastic platform," Mike Waltz, Trump's pick for a national security adviser, told Fox News Special Report with Bret Baier on Wednesday. "We're going to find a way to preserve it but protect people's data."More Must-Reads from TIMEL.A. Fires Show Reality of 1.5C of WarmingHome Losses From L.A. Fires Hasten An Uninsurable FutureThe Women Refusing to Participate in Trumps EconomyBad Bunny On Heartbreak and New AlbumHow to Dress Warmly for Cold WeatherWere Lucky to Have Been Alive in the Age of David LynchThe Motivational Trick That Makes You Exercise HarderColumn: No One Won The War in GazaContact us at letters@time.com