ByteDance, the company that runs TikTok, is running out of options to avoid a ban in the United States.

Congressional leaders have warned Apple and Google to prepare to remove TikTok from their respective app stores once the ban takes effect.

Late on December 13, Reuters reported that Rep. John Moolner (R-Mich.) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (R-Ill.), leaders of the House China Committee, sent a letter to the tech giants.

The letter urges them to be ready to remove TikTok from their app stores once the ban begins on January 19. [Congress has acted decisively to protect U.S. national security and to protect U.S. users of TikTok from the Chinese Communist Party. We call on TikTok to immediately implement a qualified divestiture,” the delegates wrote.

In the same letter, Moolenaar and Krishnamoorthi also urged TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew to sell the app.

“Congress has acted decisively to protect U.S. national security and to protect TikTok's U.S. users from the Chinese Communist Party. We urge TikTok to immediately execute a qualified divestiture,” they wrote.

Over the past five days, TikTok's attempts to circumvent the ban have taken a considerable hit. Late last week, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., unanimously denied ByteDance's request for an emergency moratorium, which ByteDance sought to suspend the ban because it plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The trial court concluded that “in light of the time available to Petitioner to seek further rehearing before the Supreme Court, and the interest of preserving the Supreme Court's discretion to decide whether and to what extent to grant temporary injunctive relief while that court considers the petition, the trial court's decision to grant the Act's temporary restraining order is unwarranted,” he wrote.

The Supreme Court has not yet decided the case and may not do so in the future. The deadline is looming as lower courts have rejected ByteDance's attempts to modify or stay the ban.

TikTok has been criticized by the U.S. government for its alleged direct ties to the Chinese government and concerns about spying.

More than 170 million Americans use the app, many of whom are several generations younger than the lawmakers who banned it.

The “anti-TikTok” bill was signed into law by President Joe Biden in April 2024. That bill set a January 19, 2025 deadline for the ban to begin.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, tried multiple ways to delay or halt the ban. However, U.S. courts have repeatedly rejected ByteDance's attempts.

According to CNN, the Justice Department stated that the January 19 ban would not “directly prohibit the continued use of TikTok” by those who have already downloaded it. However, the ban does prohibit developers from rolling out updates and support for the application, “ultimately rendering the application unworkable.”

A TikTok spokesperson stated that ending support services would “paralyze the platform in the U.S. and render it completely unusable.”

TikTok has two lifelines that could prevent or reverse the ban. As noted above, ByteDance is attempting to have the Supreme Court hear its case against the ban. The country's highest court has not stated whether it will take up the ban, but it could do so next year, albeit after the ban is in effect.

On the administration side, former president-elect Donald Trump has indicated his opposition to a ban on TikTok, stating that “TikTok has a warm place in my heart.”

Trump claimed that he won the youth vote and that TikTok may have helped in that regard. Let's take a cue from TikTok,” he said.”

If previous reports are to be believed, Trump has some significant changes he and his cabinet plan to enact quickly after taking office; TikTok may not be on the new president's mind. However, it still remains a thin lifeline that can keep the application alive.