The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Wednesday to hear TikTok's appeal of a law that would force its Chinese owner to sell the online video-sharing platform or shut it down.
The top court scheduled oral arguments in the case for January 10, nine days before TikTok faces a ban unless ByteDance divests from the popular app.
The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, would block TikTok from U.S. app stores and web hosting services unless ByteDance sells its stake by January 19.
TikTok is arguing that the law, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, violates its First Amendment free speech rights.
"Congress has enacted a massive and unprecedented speech restriction," TikTok, which claims to have more than 170 million monthly U.S. users, said in a filing with the Supreme Court.
Should the law take effect it would "shutter one of America's most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration," TikTok said.
"This, in turn, will silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern," it added. "Applicants -- as well as countless small businesses who rely on the platform -- also will suffer substantial and unrecoverable monetary and competitive harms."
The potential ban could strain U.S.-China relations just as Donald Trump prepares to take office as president on January 20.
At a press conference on Monday, Trump said he has "a warm spot" for TikTok and that his administration would take a look at the app and the potential ban.
Trump has emerged as an unlikely TikTok ally amid concerns that a ban on the app would mainly benefit Meta, the Facebook parent company owned by Mark Zuckerberg.
Trump's stance reflects conservative criticism of Meta for allegedly suppressing right-wing content, including the former president himself being banned from Facebook after the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol riot by his supporters.
Trump's support for TikTok marks a reversal from his first term, when the Republican leader tried to ban the app over similar security concerns.
The U.S. government alleges TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users. It also says the video hosting service is a conduit to spread propaganda, though China and ByteDance strongly deny these claims.
A three-judge U.S. appeals court panel earlier this month unanimously upheld the law's premise that TikTok divesting from Chinese ownership "is essential to protect our national security."
AFP, among more than a dozen other fact-checking organizations, is paid by TikTok in several countries to verify videos that potentially contain false information.
© 2024 AFP
5 Comments
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Abe234
This is how it’ll play out.
blah blah blah, waffle waffle waffle, nod nod nod. “It’s freedom of speech” . Meanwhile back in China…. Creaming in all the profits from the very same privilege of freedom of speech in the west /US, Europe while banning freedom of speech in China , and all the while blocking western sites.Personally if a Chinese company cannot reciprocate the same level of access to all companies then it shouldn’t enjoy the very same privileges and rewards from democratic countries. It appears some Chinese companies actually do get to eat their cake and eat it. Access to western liberal democracies and profits while blocking western competition. Anything that can block the death scroll is good in my mind. Ban it and get them to move to Blue sky or something else where we aren’t feeding the CCP.
Pukey2
Everybody in China uses VPN. If the US was so concerned about spying, then it would have put a stop to FB and Google. Oh I forgot. it's the US which is using them to do the spying.
SomeWeeb
They aren't worried about spying, they are worried about China spying. It's quite obvious.
HopeSpringsEternal
A deal will be worked out to protect data and national security, you can't simply pull the plug on 170M Users!
SCOTUS will issue a 'stay' and let DJT and the lower courts, if necessary, work it out
Tokyo Guy
This is unacceptable. Where else am I to get my daily fix of people dancing in a stupid manner?