After the Supreme Court heard oral arguments over a law that could ban TikTok, it looks like one of its last possible lifelines is unlikely to save it from the impending ouster.

The Supreme Court seemed likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States beginning Jan. 19 unless the popular social media program is sold by its China-based parent company. Hearing arguments in a momentous clash of free speech and national security concerns,

At the Supreme Court argument, the justices homed in on one key question: Can Congress ban a speech platform to stop the Chinese government from manipulating it?

On Friday, the Supreme Court heard last-minute arguments about the ban, with TikTok angling for an intervention or, at least, a temporary ruling to buy it a bit more time. They didn’t go especially well for TikTok — even justices who sounded sympathetic to the company’s arguments about free speech seemed satisfied by the government’s core national security argument.

TikTok transformed everyday users into influencers and made entrepreneurs rich via its Shop feature. With the US ban looming, they could lose everything—and many don’t know where to go next.

The justices, who asked tough questions of both sides, showed skepticism toward arguments by lawyers for TikTok and its users.

Congress, which passed the TikTok law with bipartisan support, says China’s influence over the platform poses a national security threat. The Department of Justice has raised concerns as well, including the potential collection of personal data from the app’s millions of American users and the potential “ covert manipulation ” of its content.

The Supreme Court's nine justices heard arguments on Friday in a challenge by TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance to a law that would force a sale or ban the widely used short-video app by Jan.

On Friday, the nation's highest court heard arguments on whether to uphold or block a law that could effectively ban TikTok​ in the U.S. The bill, signed

The full scope of how the ban would impact TikTok’s user functions is still unclear, as a lawyer arguing on behalf of the app said it would go dark by Jan. 19.

The Supreme Court seemed inclined on Friday to uphold a law that would force a sale or ban the popular short-video app TikTok in the United States by Jan. 19, with the justices focusing on the national security concerns about China that prompted the crackdown.