BOSTON — The possibility of a life without TikTok as soon as January 19th is slowly setting in for users across New England.
This Friday, the Supreme Court heard arguments from both sides on the law signed by President Joe Biden in April banning the social media platform due to national security, and the app’s Chinese parent company ByteDance.
The Supreme Court seemed likely to uphold the law after the hours-long hearing.
Emerson Professor and CEO of Big Fish PR David Richard told us this stems from the information available on the app.
“It gives access to massive amounts of data on us as citizens,” Richard told Boston 25 Saturday.
Richard said the app won’t simply disappear from phones on January 19th if upheld.
He explained, “Before you know it, services within TikTok will stop working and the app will slowly kind of break down and get less and less action. It will sort of fade away.”
He also claimed you won’t be able to download or update the app if the ban is in place. This would impact the public, brands, and content creators who drive revenue from their pages.
Richard added, “If [TikTok] goes away, it’s like suddenly getting let go from a job.”
TikTok users in Boston were split on the impending decision by the Supreme Court.
“It’s a huge time suck,” said Nick Sadowski.
Maya Thomas told Boston 25 she used the app all the time and doesn’t want to see it die.
“If you have a level head on your shoulders, then you should be ok,” she added.
The Supreme Court is expected to make a decision regarding the law in the coming days.
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