The company argued that the law, citing potential Chinese threats to the nation’s security, violated its First Amendment rights and those of its 170 million users.
Grief, frustration and tears followed the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday.
While TikTok remains hugely popular in Brazil, Indonesia and other markets, its 170 million users in the United States are its most valuable.
With the court signaling it will release a decision on Friday, lobbyists for the app pushed lawmakers to shift course.
The company is awaiting a decision over the constitutionality of a new law that aims to force a sale of the app to a non-Chinese owner under the threat of a ban.
In trying to find the line between false statements and misleading ones in the case of a Chicago politician, members of the Supreme Court posed colorful questions.
The justices, who asked tough questions of both sides, showed skepticism toward arguments by lawyers for TikTok and its users.
The justices are expected to rule quickly in the case, which pits national security concerns about China against the First Amendment’s protection of free speech.
The social media app is likely to disappear from the app stores of Google and Apple right away. But it’s unclear if users will completely lose access.
The court, which hears arguments on Friday in a challenge to a law banning the app, has issued varying rulings when those two interests clashed.
Billions in advertising flows through TikTok, which could be banned in the U.S. as soon as Jan. 19. Brands and creators are racing to prepare.
The briefs, filed a week before oral arguments, offered sharply differing accounts of China’s influence over the site and the role of the First Amendment.