The video app that once styled itself a joyful politics-free zone is now bracing for a nationwide ban and pinning its hopes on President-elect Donald Trump.

The Chinese-owned company said it would cut off its services unless the U.S. assures Apple, Google and other companies that they would not be punished for hosting and distributing TikTok.

Trump is seeking to protect TikTok from a new law that gives parent ByteDance until Sunday to sell the app to an American buyer or be banned in the U.S.

TikTok isn’t the villain here. It’s a symptom of a much larger issue: the lack of clear, enforceable rules for data privacy and security. Instead of banning the app, the government should focus on fixing the system.

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that a controversial ban on TikTok may take effect this weekend, rejecting an appeal from the popular app’s owners that claimed the ban violated the First Amendment.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew posted a video message to user in the US and thanked Donald Trump after the US Supreme Court upheld a law potentially shutting down the platform due to alleged national security concerns over its Chinese ownership.

After nearly three hours of Supreme Court arguments Friday morning, Americans are one step closer to learning whether a TikTok ban will take effect in nine days.

Even during the height of the Cold War, the United States allowed the Russian newspaper Pravda to be sold in this country. | Opinion

America was once seen as the home of the free internet. That era is now over.

President Joe Biden's administration said it will be up to President-elect Donald Trump to implement the ban on TikTok, which is set to take effect in two days after the Supreme Court upheld the law Friday.

The Biden administration says it will leave it to incoming President Donald Trump to figure out how to deal with the mess of the TikTok ban, ABC News reports. “Our position on this has been clear: TikTok should continue to operate under American ownership,