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The Supreme Court upheld a law banning TikTok in the U.S., in a decision handed down on Friday.

After a few years of enjoying its position as the top social media platform in the U.S., TikTok is set to be banned on Sunday unless parent company ByteDance sells the app to a U.S. owner.

Once in effect, tech companies like Google and Apple will be required to remove TikTok from their app stores and people will no longer be able to download it on their phones.

The ban would also halt advertisers — including pharma brands and medical marketing agencies — from using the platform for marketing and patient engagement efforts.

Below is a quick rundown of how this situation could play out and what it will mean for medical marketers.

How would the ban take effect?

In April 2024, President Joe Biden signed a law that ordered ByteDance, a Chinese company, to sell TikTok by January 19, 2025 — the last day of his presidential term — or else it would be banned in the U.S.

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA) allows the federal government to prohibit apps owned by foreign companies if they pose a national security threat. 

PAFACA has garnered sizable bipartisan support in Congress, as concerns that the Chinese government could access Americans’ data through the app have mounted.

PAFACA outlines that companies would not be able to “distribute, maintain, or update (or enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of) a foreign adversary controlled application.” 

In other words, TikTok would disappear from app stores.

However, if users already have the app on their devices, they will be able to keep it there — at least for the time being. They won’t be able to download new upgrades to it, meaning it’s likely the app would likely degrade and become unusable over time.

On January 10, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in an expedited case challenging the proposed ban on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment.

In recent days, reports emerged that the incoming Trump administration would take steps to postpone the implementation of the law — though no tangible solution has yet been reached.

What this means for pharma marketers

Honing in on the industry, the TikTok ban could have significant ramifications for medical marketing.

In recent years, pharma companies have increasingly experimented with TikTok for marketing campaigns as well as to bolster their respective brands on the platform with a primarily younger audience.

Several major drugmakers, including Pfizer, Amgen, Astellas, Novartis and AstraZeneca have established presences on the platform, either posting their own content or partnering with content creators and influencers.

A TikTok ban means that pharma marketers will have to abandon their nascent marketing and engagement efforts on the platform.

While a pivot could be challenging, there are so many other social media platforms that marketers will likely segue into investing in those more, noted Hannah Fritzenkotter, director of paid social at CMI Media Group.

She said there are established, older platforms like YouTube and Instagram as well as newer ones like Bluesky that marketers and brands could migrate towards.

“Meta and Instagram have Reels, which has been around for a long time, and a lot of people are starting to shift towards that more than they have in the past,” Fritzenkotter said. “There are a bunch of new platforms coming up that we can potentially be looking at down the line.”

Astellas is one pharma company that saw success with TikTok, partnering with healthcare influencers back in 2022 to launch a TikTok Pulse program.

Sara Jacobson, director of therapeutic area communications, women’s health at Astellas, noted that the pharma company has been closely monitoring the situation in preparation for a ban.

“As the social media landscape evolves, Astellas will adapt our strategies and content to align with industry best practices, ensuring compliance and prioritizing the interest of patients,” she said in a statement.

The ban isn’t necessarily causing panic among pharma clients, according to Alexandra Gilson, SVP of paid social at CMI Media Group. 

Instead, many industry stakeholders are viewing it as an opportunity for marketing to get innovative in a profound way.

“The ones that will really be impacted are small businesses, and the creators who will have to build up their audiences or their presence elsewhere,” Gilson noted. “From a pharma perspective, there’s not a huge call for concern – it’s just a matter of being prepared. We’re always looking to pivot in real time. That’s part of the job.”