The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on alleged hacker Yin Kecheng and cybersecurity company Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology Co., accusing both of being involved in a series of hacks against American telecom companies.

What happens on your smartphone once a US law banning the social media app TikTok takes effect on Sunday? It will depend on the actions of TikTok parent ByteDance, President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump,

Experts have indicated that common workarounds, such as VPNs, may not be effective due to the app's ability to detect user locations through geolocation data.

What happens on your smartphone once a US law banning the social media app TikTok takes effect on Jan. 19? It will depend on the actions of TikTok parent ByteDance, President-elect Donald Trump and some of the largest tech giants in the US.

TikTok has announced that it will cease operations in the U.S. on Sunday, unless the Biden administration provides assurances to tech giants.

TikTok and its Chinese parent company are facing off against the Justice Department Friday in a hearing before the Supreme Court that will help determine the fate of the popular social media app.

"In my opinion, TikTok should not be banned in the USA, even though such a ban may benefit the X platform,” Elon Musk wrote on X in April. "Doing so would be contrary to freedom of speech and expression. It is not what America stands for." To note, a TikTok spokesperson told the BBC that the Bloomberg report was "pure fiction."

TikTok faces divestiture or ban as Supreme Court hearing evaluates national security concerns and constitutional challenges

"Unless the Biden Administration immediately provides a definitive statement to satisfy the most critical service providers assuring non-enforcement, unfortunately TikTok will be forced to go dark on January 19," the company said. The White House declined to comment.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday he would "most likely" give TikTok a 90-day reprieve from a potential ban after he takes office on Monday, as the app with 170 million American users buzzed with nervous anticipation ahead of a shutdown set for Sunday.

The United States Supreme Court on Friday ruled against TikTok's bid to avoid a ban that could shut the app down in just two days and impact millions of users who rely on the platform for entertainment,

Leaders at Oracle, the main cloud computing provider for TikTok's U.S. operations, have told some staff to prepare to shut down servers that host U.S. TikTok data as soon as 9 p.m. ET on Saturday (0200 GMT on Sunday) in advance of a U.