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Another day has passed without news from the US Supreme Court or TikTok, putting the popular social media app one step closer to blackout in America.
The nation’s highest court has yet to rule on TikTok’s request to overturn a law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden last year that the app is effectively banned in the US if TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, does not sell it to a buyer deemed suitable by US officials on Sunday, January 19.
In a news conference on Thursday, Sens. Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Corey Booker of New Jersey called on Biden to extend the 90-day deadline provided by law. The idea also has the support of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who like Markey and Booker has promised to work with incoming president Donald Trump to find a way to save TikTok, while also protecting US national security.
“It’s time to take a breath, step back, buy some time, try to make sense of it, but either way, TikTok should be dark on Sunday,” Markey said. “It’s going to be catastrophic for a lot of small businesses, a lot of creators, a lot of communities.”
A A Biden administration official said ABC News said Thursday that the White House will not implement the law in the remaining days before Trump takes office on January 21.
Lawyers for TikTok and the US government both pleaded their cases in oral arguments before the court last weekwith TikTok charging that the ban would violate the First Amendment rights of the company and its users. But based on questions and comments made during the more than two-hour hearing, it appeared that the justices were more inclined to agree with the government’s argument that the case is not about freedom of speech and rather has to do with the dangers posed. of foreign enemies, such as China.
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It is unclear when the Supreme Court will issue a ruling. The court could also issue a stay, temporarily halting the law until President-elect Donald Trump takes office one day after January 20.
Lawmakers of both political parties have long expressed concerns that TikTok could be a threat to national security and could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans or spread disinformation to further China’s agenda. .
TikTok continues to deny the accusations. Before Congressional votes earlier this year, TikTok is rallying its users in the UScalling on them to urge their representatives on Capitol Hill to vote for a ban. But the measure ultimately passed by wide margins in both houses of Congress and was signed by Biden.
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But Trump, who pushed for a ban in his first term, now says he no longer favors one. Ahead of the oral arguments, lawyers for Trump filed an amicus brief in the case. They did not take sides but instead asked the court to delay the ban to give Trump time to make a “political resolution.”
So what’s next for lawmakers and TikTok? Here’s what you need to know.
What does the law do?
The law is aimed at forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok to a buyer that American officials approve, as well as guaranteeing that ByteDance no longer has access to US user data or control over the TikTok algorithm that decides which video can be viewed by users in America.
TikTok has been given nine months to comply, hence the January 19 deadline, by which time the government can demand that its app be removed from US app stores. The president may grant a 90-day extension. Earlier this week, Markey announced that legislation that will give TikTok another nine monthsbut the Republicans blocked it.
TikTok has long said that selling is not an option. During oral arguments last week, the company’s lawyer Noel Francisco said that TikTok will effectively be “in the dark” if the ban is implemented. It is also possible that the app will die a slow death. It won’t be shut down, but it won’t be available in the Google and Apple app stores and current users won’t get software updates, which will eventually make the app too buggy to use.
Biden, who signed the bill establishing those requirements, remains in office until Inauguration Day on January 20.
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What’s next?
After originally calling for a ban during his first term as president, Trump said during the 2024 campaign that he was not in favor of one and promised to “save TikTok,” though he did not specify when how does he do it.
During a press conference in December, Trump pointed to the role that TikTok played during the election, crediting it with helping him get the youth vote.
“TikTok has an impact, and so we’re looking at it,” Trump told the press. “I have a little warm spot in my heart. I’ll be honest.”
Trump SAYS in March on CNBC’s Squawk Box that although he still sees the app as a national security risk, he no longer thinks it should be banned, saying, “There are a lot of kids on TikTok who are going crazy without it.”
Trump added that banning TikTok would only increase the power of Facebook, which he called “the enemy of the people.”
In September, Trump promised that “know about TikTok,” according to an Associated Press report. But during a interview that aired last month on Meet the PressTrump did not directly say whether or how he would help TikTok avoid the ban.
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Who opposed the ban on TikTok?
Free speech and digital rights groups, as well as some security experts, have long opposed the idea of a ban, saying that singing on TikTok does nothing to address the more broad social media problems. Many have filed briefs in the high court supporting TikTok.
Instead they argued that lawmakers would do better to pass comprehensive digital privacy laws that would protect Americans’ personal information by regulating the ability of all social media companies to collect and sell it.
Electronic Frontier Foundation Civil Liberties Director David Greene, co-author an amicus brief Submitted to the court late last month, it said corporations from around the world are allowed to collect, store and sell Americans’ personal data. And that data can easily be stolen or bought by foreign adversaries.
“Banning or forcing the sale of a social media app does almost nothing to protect the privacy of Americans’ data from another country,” Greene said in a statement to the EFF.
