TikTok’s 270-day countdown starts today. What could happen to the app?

President Joe Biden signed a bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to divest from the app or face a nationwide ban. But legal fights are expected, and the effects won’t immediately be apparent. Here’s what to know.

First Look

The Senate on April 23 passed legislation giving TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, about nine months to divest the United States assets of the short-video app, or face a nationwide ban. President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on April 24.

Here’s what will likely happen next for TikTok.

What’s TikTok’s deadline?

Once Mr. Biden signed the bill, a 270-day clock started during which ByteDance must sell TikTok. If it looks like ByteDance is close to divestment near the end of the nine-month period, the president can authorize an additional 90 days for any deal to be finalized. 

The 270-day period will end around the inauguration of the next president of the United States, on Jan. 20, 2025, likely leaving the decision on an extra three months either to Mr. Biden, a Democrat, who is seeking reelection, or Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

How will TikTok respond?

TikTok is expected to sue to stop the bill now that it’s been signed into law. TikTok’s lawyers are also expected to ask the court for a preliminary injunction.

“At the stage that the bill is signed, we will move to the courts for a legal challenge,” Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, wrote in a memo sent to employees on April 20 and obtained by The Associated Press.

“This is the beginning, not the end of this long process,” Mr. Beckerman wrote.

TikTok would want an injunction barring enforcement of the law to allow its full case challenging the constitutionality of the law to move ahead. It is unlikely that the court proceeding would be complete by year-end.

Last year TikTok took similar legal actions to stop a ban on the app in the state of Montana, where a preliminary injunction was granted. If that scenario is any guide for TikTok’s efforts against the United States, the company itself and TikTok users will file separate cases to thwart the U.S. bill.

The bill sets the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as the exclusive forum for any legal challenges.

How long will this all take?

If TikTok successfully obtains a preliminary injunction from the court, the forced sale process is halted, potentially giving TikTok more time to operate freely in the U.S.

In August 2020, Mr. Trump, who was president at the time, sought to ban both TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat, but was blocked by the courts. In June 2021, Mr. Biden withdrew a series of Trump-era executive orders that sought to ban new downloads of WeChat and TikTok.

Mr. Trump now says he opposes the potential ban.

Will TikTok change at all?

The TikTok app should not change for its 170 million U.S. users between now and the end of the divestment period in the first four months of 2025.

What does the Chinese government say?

China has a list of technologies that would need Chinese government approval before they are exported. Experts said TikTok’s recommendation algorithm would fall under the list.

Could there be another approach?

Many opponents of the TikTok measure argue the best way to protect U.S. consumers is through implementing a comprehensive federal data privacy law that targets all companies regardless of their origin, The Associated Press reported. They also note the U.S. has not provided public evidence that shows TikTok sharing U.S. user information with Chinese authorities, or that Chinese officials have ever tinkered with its algorithm.

“Banning TikTok would be an extraordinary step that requires extraordinary justification,” Becca Branum, a deputy director at the Washington-based Center for Democracy & Technology, which advocates for digital rights, told the AP. “Extending the divestiture deadline neither justifies the urgency of the threat to the public nor addresses the legislation’s fundamental constitutional flaws.”

What are TikTok users saying?

Content creators who rely on the app have been trying to make their voices heard. On April 23, some creators congregated in front the Capitol building to speak out against the bill and carry signs that read “I’m 1 of the 170 million Americans on TikTok,” among other things, The Associated Press reported.

Tiffany Cianci, a content creator who has more than 140,000 followers on the platform and had encouraged people to show up, said she spent April 22 picking up creators from airports in the D.C. area. Some came from as far as Nevada and California. Others drove overnight from South Carolina or took a bus from upstate New York.

Ms. Cianci says she believes TikTok is the safest platform for users right now because of Project Texas, TikTok’s $1.5 billion mitigation plan to store U.S. user data on servers owned and maintained by the tech giant Oracle.

“If our data is not safe on TikTok,” she told the AP, “I would ask why the president is on TikTok.”

This story was reported by Reuters with material from The Associated Press.