'The clock is Tikking': Social media responds to potential for U.S. TikTok ban

NBC News reported Friday that U.S. federal judges unanimously upheld the mandate that an American citizen own TikTok if it intends to operate in the United States.

There have been ongoing concerns about the safety and security of the app, and the D.C. Circuit agreed, citing national security threats and taking data from users without consent.

Justices said, "We recognize that this decision has significant implications for TikTok and its users."

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Senate Dems consider whether Biden should ‘clear the slate’ and pardon Trump

The court said if they don't divest, it "will effectively be unavailable in the United States, at least for a time."

When entering the White House, President-elect Donald Trump will be able to grant a 90-day extension "based upon progress."

Former Department of Homeland Security Miles Taylor responded to the news by saying, "The clock is Tikking."

Reuters reporter David Shepardson announced, "Get ready for a ban on Jan. 19."

Talk radio host Bo Snerdley responded by saying, "Well - somebody hurry up and please buy this thing. Don't want to lose the entertainment value from so many liberals going nuts on everything."

Pew Research Center associate director John Gramlich posted on BlueSky, "In the latest Pew Research Center survey on the topic (fielded this past summer), 32% of US adults favored a government ban on TikTok. That was down from 50% in March 2023."

Meanwhile, the ACLU deputy director of the National Security Project, Patrick Toomey, said on BlueSky that it was "a flawed" ruling to uphold the ban and that it sets a "dangerous precedent—one that gives the government far too much power to silence Americans' speech online."

Other social media platforms that also allow video posting will not be shut down, according to reports.

In 1985, the FCC restricted foreigners from owning American TV networks. Fox founder Rupert Murdoch became an American citizen as a result, Barron's contributor and CEO Isaac Stone Fish posted in March.

"Those rules never caught up to fast-evolving social media -- hence Congress today," said Fish.