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The US Supreme Court ruled against TikTok on Friday in a challenge to a federal law requiring the popular short video app to be sold by its Chinese parent ByteDance or be banned in the United States on Sunday.
The judges ruled that the law does not violate the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects against government restrictions on free speech. Judges overturned a lower court’s decision that upheld the measure after it was challenged by TikTok, ByteDance and some of the app’s users.
- Do you have questions about how a TikTok ban in the US would affect you? Email [email protected].
ByteDance has been given until Jan. 19, 2025 to find a US owner for the app or face forfeiture in the US, under bipartisan legislation signed into law by outgoing President Joe Biden last year.
The Supreme Court moved quickly in the case, holding a hearing on January 10, just nine days before the statutory deadline.
“There is no doubt that for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, a means of engagement and a source of community,” the court said in an unsigned opinion, citing an estimate of how many people have downloaded the app in the US.
“But Congress has determined that forfeiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns about TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
The court added “we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioner’s First Amendment rights.”
Trump is changing the tune of TikTok
TikTok plans to shut down the app in the US on Sunday barring a last-minute delay, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
The Biden administration has said the law targets control of the app by a foreign adversary, not protected speech, and that TikTok could continue to operate if freed from Chinese control.
With a potential ban on TikTok in the US within days, Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser says the president-elect will find a way to preserve the platform. Meanwhile, content creators are flocking to another Chinese-owned app known in English as Rednote in protest.
But the White House said in a statement Friday that the app’s future will ultimately be a concern of Donald Trump’s second presidential administration, given the timing.
“TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in crafting this legislation,” the White House said in a statement.
“Given the very fact of the timeline, this Administration understands that enforcement actions must simply fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday.”
Trump — which will be inaugurated on Monday — once laid the groundwork to remove TikTok from US app stores while he was president in 2020, citing national security concerns. But he has since said ahead of his second term that he does not want to see the app, which has more than 100 million average monthly users in the US, shut down.
China and the United States are economic and geopolitical rivals, and China’s ownership of TikTok has raised concerns among American leaders for years.
Also, Trump said on social media that he had a good discussion with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday about a range of issues, including trade, fentanyl and TikTok, without giving details.
In a video statement, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew thanked US users of the app as well as Trump for “his commitment to working with us to find solutions that keep TikTok available in the United States.”
Chew called it a stance against “arbitrary censorship.” The CEO reportedly visited Trump at his Florida estate last month and was also speculated to attend Monday’s inauguration.
Trump May Get ‘Creative’: Analyst
Speaking before Friday’s sentencing, Anupam Chander, a professor at Georgetown University Law School who has followed the issue, told Reuters that Trump could issue an executive order, invoking the sweeping International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
Trump could argue that the move would prevent users from fleeing to China’s RedNote app, which is run directly from China and is subject to censorship by the Communist Party, he said.
With a possible TikTok ban set to take effect in the US as early as Sunday, Metro Morning heard from two GTA influencers about the potential ripple effects on Canadian creators.
Such a scenario would not be without its challenges, Chander said.
“I don’t want to say it’s illegal,” he said. “It’s creative and an insult to Congress, but when you give the president unlimited national security powers, he could use them in unexpected ways.”
Billionaire businessman Frank McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative has announced that it and its unnamed partners have presented ByteDance with a proposal to acquire TikTok’s US assets. The consortium, which includes Aquarium for sharks host Kevin O’Leary, did not disclose the financial terms of the offer.
McCourt said in a statement after the ruling that his group “stands ready to work with the company and President Trump to complete the deal.”
Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin in 2024 has also expressed interest in exploring a bid with a group of investors.
The Liberal government banned TikTok’s Canadian operations last year over national security concerns, but allowed access to the app, a decision that baffled some experts.
The government claims that China could ‘weaponize’ the application
During hearings in the case, Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Prelogar said the Chinese government’s control of TikTok poses a “serious threat” to US national security, with China seeking to collect vast amounts of sensitive data about Americans and engage in covert influence operations.
Prelogar said China is forcing companies like ByteDance to secretly hand over data about social network users and carry out directives from the Chinese government.
TikTok’s vast data set, Prelogar added, is a powerful tool that the Chinese government could use for harassment, recruitment and espionage, and that China “could at any moment use TikTok as a weapon to harm the United States.”
In 2020, India blocked TikTok and nearly 60 other Chinese apps over national security concerns, amid a territorial dispute between the Asian rivals that has turned deadly at times.
The disruption has forced content creators to rebuild their following and business on new homegrown apps and established platforms like Met-owned Instagram, some creators in India told Reuters. While top influencers have successfully made the switch and even expanded their audience, smaller creators have struggled to achieve the same success.
Read the decision of the US Supreme Court:
