As a potential TikTok ban looms, millions of U.S. users are left wondering what could happen to both their app and accounts if the ban takes effect in just a few days.

The ban law, which passed Congress with wide bipartisan majorities and was signed by President Biden last April, gave TikTok until Jan.19 to either divest from ByteDance, or face a ban in the U.S.

TikTok has not publicly announced what users could expect on Sunday should the ban go into effect, though cybersecurity experts agree the ban does not necessarily mean the app will suddenly disappear from U.S. devices right as the clock strikes midnight.

The ban hinges on a decision from the Supreme Court, which took up TikTok’s challenge to the divest-or-ban law on an expedited timeline. The high court heard oral arguments last week and signaled sympathy with the government’s national security concerns with TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

Here’s what might happen if the ban goes into effect Sunday:

TikTok no longer offered on app stores, becomes buggy for existing users

The divest-or-ban law, formally known as the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” makes it illegal for U.S. app stores — like ones operated by Google or Apple — and web-hosting services to distribute TikTok to its users.

As a result, the application will be pulled from app stores and unavailable for new downloads.

Still, existing downloads are not likely to be removed – at least initially – on U.S. devices.

"TikTok could do nothing and if the app store removes service — removes the ability to download the app — it won’t immediately cause a problem for most users,” said Jason Kelley, director of activism for digital rights non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation.

But with no updates coming from app stores, the app will likely become more buggy and eventually nonfunctional for U.S. users.

“The bugs would come from the fact that TikTok could........

© The Hill