The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a bill that would require China-based ByteDance to sell ownership of TikTok by Sunday or face effectively banning the popular social video app in the United States.
ByteDance has so far refused to sell TikTok, meaning many U.S. users could lose access to the app this weekend. ByteDance also threatened to shut down the app, but the app may still work for people who already have TikTok on their phones.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration, upholding legislation protecting Americans from foreign adversary control applications that President Joe Biden signed into law in April.
“There is no doubt that for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok provides a unique and expansive outlet for expression, a means of engagement, and a community source,” the Supreme Court said. “However, Congress determined that the divestment was necessary to address well-supported national security concerns related to TikTok’s data collection practices and ties to foreign adversaries.”
Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch wrote the concurrence.
TikTok’s fate in the United States now lies in the hands of President-elect Donald Trump, who favored a TikTok ban during his first administration but has since reversed course on the issue. In December, President Trump asked the Supreme Court to halt enforcement of the law and allow the administration “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the issues at issue in the case.”
President Trump began speaking more favorably about TikTok after meeting with Republican billionaire donor Jeff Yass in February. Yass is a major ByteDance investor who also holds an ownership stake in Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social.
Trump is scheduled to be inaugurated on Monday, the day after the TikTok sales deadline. TikTok CEO Shou Chew is one of several tech leaders expected to attend and sit at the podium.
The country’s highest court said that while “data collection and analysis is common practice in this digital age,” TikTok’s sheer size and “vulnerability to foreign adversary control, and the vast amounts of sensitive data the platform collects.” “He expressed concern about national security.
Subject to legal provisions, the following third party Internet service providers: apologize and Google Supporting ByteDance-owned TikTok after the January 19 deadline will result in penalties.
If internet service providers and app store owners comply, they will remove TikTok from their app stores, preventing users from downloading TikTok or installing updates required to make the app functional.
A TikTok representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“TikTok should be available to Americans, but under U.S. ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns Congress identified in developing this law,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. The President reiterated his support for this law. “
“Given the sheer fact of timing, this administration recognizes that steps to implement the law must be left to the next administration, which takes office on Monday,” Pierre said.
Kate Luann, director of the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology, criticized the Supreme Court’s decision in a statement, saying it “harms the free expression of TikTok’s hundreds of millions of users in this country and around the world.”
“Individuals use apps to create information, share information, get news, comment on current issues, and promote businesses. This is the kind of speech the First Amendment is intended to protect,” Ruane said. said:
Last December, members of the Chinese Communist Party’s House of Representatives Select Committee sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai urging executives to begin preparing to comply with the law and reminding them of their obligations as app store operators. .
Last Friday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments from lawyers representing TikTok, content creators and the U.S. government. TikTok’s lead attorney, Noel Francisco, argued that the law violates the First Amendment rights of the app’s 170 million U.S. users. Meanwhile, US Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar countered claims that the app is linked to China through its parent company ByteDance, saying it poses a national security threat.
After oral arguments, several legal experts believed the country’s highest court appeared more favorable to the U.S. government’s case regarding TikTok’s questionable ties to the Chinese government.
According to CNBC, many TikTok creators are telling fans to look them up on rival social platforms like Google’s YouTube, Meta’s Facebook, and Instagram. Instagram leaders also planned a meeting following last Friday’s Supreme Court hearing to instruct employees to prepare for a surge in users if the court upholds the law, a CNBC report said.
Chinese social media app and TikTok-like RedNote rose to the top of the Apple App Store on Monday, indicating that TikTok’s millions of users are looking for alternatives.
The Chinese government has also weighed a contingency plan for Elon Musk to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations as part of several options to prevent the app from being effectively banned in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported on Monday. The plan was one of several the Chinese government was considering as part of larger discussions regarding its upcoming cooperation with the Trump White House, the report said.
If ByteDance decides to sell TikTok to a U.S. company or investor group, potential buyers could have to pay between $40 billion and $50 billion, according to an estimate by CFRA Research senior vice president Angelo Zino.
see: SCOTUS hears TikTok ban case.
