The US Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to hear a bid by TikTok and its parent company, China-based ByteDance, to block a law that aims to force sales of the video app shortly before January 19 or ban it. put on national security grounds.
The judges did not immediately act on an urgent request by TikTok and ByteDance, as well as some of the users who post content on the social media platform, for an order to stop the ban, which ' chose to hear arguments about the case on Jan. 10.
The opposition is appealing a lower court decision that upheld the law. TikTok is used by about 170 million Americans.
Congress passed the measure in April. The US Department of Justice had said that, as a Chinese company, TikTok poses a “national security threat of enormous depth and scale” because it has access to large amounts of data about American users, from locations to private messages, and his capacity for secrecy. handle content that Americans see on the app. TikTok has said it poses no threat to US security.
TikTok and ByteDance asked the Supreme Court on December 16 to stop the law, which they said violates free speech protections under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
TikTok said on Wednesday that it was pleased that the court would accept the case. “We believe that the court will find TikTok's ban unconstitutional so that the more than 170 million Americans on our platform can continue to exercise their free speech rights,” said the company.
The companies said that shutting down for even a month would cause TikTok to lose about a third of its US users and undermine its ability to attract advertisers and hire content creators and employee talent.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington on December 6 rejected the companies' First Amendment arguments.
In their application to the Supreme Court, TikTok and ByteDance said that “if Americans, adequately informed of the risks involved in handling 'hidden' content, choose to continue viewing content on TikTok with the eyes open, the First Amendment entrusts them to do. that choice, free from government censorship.”
The Republican leader of the Senate Mitch McConnell on Wednesday, in a short file filed with the Supreme Court, urged the court to reject any delay, comparing TikTok to a hardened criminal.
Trump has a 'warm spot' for TikTok
A US ban on TikTok would make the company far less valuable to ByteDance and its investors, and hurt businesses that rely on TikTok to drive their sales.
US president Donald Trump, who tried unsuccessfully to ban TikTok during his first term in 2020, has reversed his stance and promised during the presidential race this year that he would try to save TikTok. Trump said on December 16 that “I have a warm place in my heart for TikTok” and that he would “look into” the issue.
Trump will take office on January 20, the day after TikTok's statutory deadline.
In its decision, the DC Circuit wrote, “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. United States.”
TikTok has denied that it has or would ever share US user data, accusing US lawmakers in the lawsuit of hacking speculative concerns, and has characterized the ban as “a radical departure from this country's tradition of supporting an open Internet.”
The dispute comes at a time of growing trade tensions between the world's two largest economies after President Joe Biden's administration imposed new restrictions on China's chip industry and China responded with a ban on the export of gallium, germanium and antimony to the United States.
Justin Trudeau's Liberal government has banned TikTok's business operations in Canada due to national security concerns, but Canadians can still use the app. Government officials have said the decision was made on advice from Canada's security and intelligence community.
The US law would ban the provision of certain services to TikTok and other apps controlled by a foreign enemy, including offering it through app stores such as Apple and Alphabet's Google, effectively banning on continued US use unless ByteDance removes TikTok by the deadline.
An unrestricted ban could open the door to future crackdowns on other foreign-owned apps. In 2020, Trump also tried to ban WeChat, owned by the Chinese company Tencent, but was blocked by the courts.
Order of closure in Canada
In November, citing national security concerns, the Trudeau government ordered TikTok to shut down its operations in Canada — but said users would still be able to access the popular video app.
The government had ordered the dissolution of TikTok's business in Canada after a national security investigation into the Chinese company behind the social media platform.
In response, TikTok filed documents in Federal Court in Vancouver this month challenging the federal government's order to close its Canadian operations, claiming it will eliminate hundreds of jobs and could e ending a quarter of a million contracts he has with Canadian advertising clients.
