The law that could ban TikTok will go before the Supreme Court on Friday, with the justices largely keeping the app’s fate in their own hands.
The popular social media platform says the law violates the First Amendment and should be repealed.
TikTok’s parent company is based in China, and the US government says this means it poses a potential national security threat. They say Chinese authorities could force it to hand over sensitive data about the vast number of Americans who use it or influence the spread of information on the platform.
An appeals court upheld the law banning TikTok unless it is sold.
The law is scheduled to take effect on January 19, one day before the start of a new term for President-elect Donald Trump, who has 14.7 million followers on the platform. The Republican says he wants to “save TikTok.”
Here are some key things to know about this issue:
Not now, but the short video sharing app could be shut down in less than two weeks if the Supreme Court upholds the law.
The measure passed Congress with bipartisan support, and Democratic President Joe Biden signed it into law in April.
TikTok’s lawyers challenged the law in court, joined by users and content creators who said the ban would upend their livelihoods. TikTok says national security concerns are based on hypothetical and inaccurate information.
But an appeals court panel made up unanimously of judges appointed by Republican and Democratic presidents upheld the law.
When will the Supreme Court decide?
The justices are scheduled to issue their decision after arguments on Friday, a very quick move by the court’s standards.
A court with a conservative majority could dismiss evidence about how it leans during oral arguments.
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TikTok’s lawyers urged judges to intervene before the law takes effect, saying shutting down the app for a month would result in the app losing about a third of its daily American users and significant advertising revenue.
The court could quickly block the law from taking effect before issuing a final ruling, if at least five of the nine justices believe it is unconstitutional.
What did Trump say about it?
The law is scheduled to take effect on January 19, one day before Trump takes office.
He took the unusual step of filing court documents asking the Supreme Court to suspend the law until he could negotiate a deal to sell TikTok after taking office. His position was the latest example of him involving himself in national issues before taking office. That was also a change from his last presidential term, when he wanted to ban it.
Parent company ByteDance previously said it had no plans to sell. Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, last month.
Free speech advocacy groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, have urged the court to block the law, saying the government has not shown credible evidence of harm and that a ban would cause “extraordinary disruption” to the lives of Americans.
On the other hand, Senator Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader of the Senate, and a group of 22 states, filed supporting briefs, arguing that the law protects freedom of expression by protecting Americans’ data and preventing possible manipulation of information on the platform. By the Chinese authorities.
& Edition 2025 The Canadian Press
