BREAKING: The United States Supreme Court Upholds The TikTok Ban

The fight is not over, but as an independent journalist, Substack is the future.

The United States Supreme Court just upheld the TikTok ban.

Was this decision expected? For me, yes. Does that mean TikTok will be banned on January 19th? That’s not as clear. In the past 24 hours, both the Biden and Trump Administrations have signaled that they intend on keeping TikTok around, at least for the foreseeable future. As a result, I am pretty confident that TikTok will be here to stay and will not close its doors on Sunday.

The Biden Administration has already said that it will not enforce the ban on Sunday, so as long as TikTok does not voluntarily turn itself off (unlikely), it will stick around until Monday. On Monday, Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order that keeps TikTok around for a period of 60 or 90 days. But, nothing is guaranteed.

The ruling just came out, so I am going to take some time to digest the ruling, read it through, and give you all my full opinion. One thing is clear, however, the threat to the future of TikTok remains.

As an independent journalist who started on TikTok, I wanted to take a minute to talk about what that platform meant to me. TikTok gave me the ability to quit my 9-5 legal job to start educating a wider audience. And now, one of my primary sources of income could be gone in just four days. If you want to support my independent journalism, please consider becoming a monthly subscriber on here by clicking the button below.

Just because TikTok may be gone, does not mean I am going to stop my work. In 2022, I opened a TikTok account to provide accurate, timely news updates about my family in Ukraine, feeling legacy media was not doing enough. Since then, I have continued providing timely, accurate coverage of current events, domestic and international, on all of my social media platforms. As a result, my TikTok has now gained more than 1.6 million followers, and I have more than 2 million followers across all my platforms.

I do this work because there aren’t enough young people in media. Legacy media has failed young Americans, and Americans generally, by not elevating young voices, while simultaneously elevating opinionated and biased talking heads to deliver the “news.” It’s not right, and I am working to try to change that.

In other news, here are some stories you missed overnight:

• The Biden Administration will not force TikTok to go dark on Sunday and will leave it up to the Trump Administration to enforce the ban.

• Trump discussed TikTok with President Xi on a phone call this morning.

• Biden says the ERA should be deemed ratified. Unclear what the impact of the statement is on the amendment, however.

• Donald Trump plans on issuing an executive order that makes cryptocurrency a national priority.

• Pete Hegseth will likely be confirmed and has secured enough Republican support following his confirmation hearing.

• The Israel/Hamas ceasefire has been finalized and will begin on Sunday.

• The Brazilian Supreme Court just denied the request of Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro, the former President of Brazil, to attend the inauguration.

• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has come out in favor of a TikTok extension.

• President Biden has commuted the sentences of more than 2,500 non-violent drug offenders.

• Federal employees have quietly edited job descriptions to protect them from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

Over the next four years and beyond, I will use this SubStack to share with you all accurate, timely news, while also sharing my thoughts on the general media landscape in our nation.

We have a lot of work to do, and I look forward to helping lead this effort. Please consider becoming a paid subscriber by clicking the button below to support my continued work:

Thank you,

Aaron