The US Supreme Court dealt a blow to TikTok on Friday (January 17), refusing to block a law that mandates the popular video app to either be sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a ban in the United States on national security grounds. This decision has serious implications for TikTok, which is used by nearly half of Americans.
In a unanimous ruling, the justices upheld the law, passed with broad bipartisan support in Congress last year and signed by President Joe Biden. The Court ruled that the law did not violate the First Amendment rights to free speech, affirming a lower court’s decision. The ruling emphasized Congress’s concerns over national security, particularly TikTok’s data practices and its connection to China.
The Court acknowledged that TikTok serves as a significant platform for over 170 million Americans, providing a unique outlet for expression and community. However, it concluded that divestiture was necessary to address concerns over the app’s data collection practices and ties to a foreign adversary.
The Supreme Court acted swiftly, holding arguments just nine days before the deadline set by the law. The case highlighted the ongoing clash between free speech rights and national security issues in the era of social media.
TikTok has become one of the most widely used social media platforms in the US, with around 270 million users. Its powerful algorithm serves up tailored short videos, creating a vast and highly engaging collection for viewers. However, concerns about TikTok’s ownership by a Chinese company have long raised alarm in Washington, where officials fear the app could be used to gather sensitive data or influence US users covertly.
The US government argues that the law targets the app’s foreign ownership, not its content, and that TikTok could continue to operate if it were no longer controlled by China. The Biden administration and Justice Department have emphasized that China could use the app to harvest data and engage in covert operations against the US.
TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, along with some of the app's US users, had challenged the law, appealing to the Supreme Court after losing a case in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The law was passed last April, and while some of Trump’s allies supported the ban, the former president himself has shown support for keeping TikTok operational in the US.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is scheduled to attend President Trump’s inauguration, underscoring the evolving political landscape surrounding the app. TikTok has claimed that the law endangers the free speech of not just the company and its users, but all Americans, and could harm its US workforce of 7,000 employees.
With the law set to take effect this Sunday (January 19), TikTok’s US operations may shut down unless ByteDance sells the app or finds a way to comply with the law, potentially marking the end of the app’s widespread use in the US.
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