The US Supreme Court decided on Wednesday to hear a bid by TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance to block a law aimed at forcing the sale of the short video app by January 19 or face a prohibition for reasons of national security.
The judges did not immediately act on an emergency request by TikTok and ByteDance, as well as some of its users who post content on the social media platform, for an injunction to stop the impending ban, and opt to hear arguments on the matter in January. 10.
The challengers are appealing a lower court ruling that upheld the law. TikTok is used by about 170 million Americans.
Congress approved the measure in April. The US Department of Justice had said that, as a Chinese company, TikTok poses "a national security threat of immense depth and scale" because of its access to large amounts of data on US users, from 'locations to private messages, and their ability to secretly. manipulate the content Americans see in the app. TikTok has said it poses no imminent threat to the security of the United States.
TikTok and ByteDance asked the Supreme Court on December 16 to put the law on hold, which they said violates free speech protections under the US Constitution's First Amendment.
TikTok said on Wednesday it was pleased the court took up the issue. "We believe the court will find TikTok's ban unconstitutional so that the more than 170 million Americans on our platform can continue to exercise their free speech rights," the company said.
The companies said a shutdown for even a month would cause TikTok to lose about a third of its US users and undermine its ability to attract advertisers and recruit content creators and employee talent.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington on December 6 rejected the companies' First Amendment arguments.
In their filing with the Supreme Court, TikTok and ByteDance said that "if Americans, duly informed of the alleged risks of 'undercover' content manipulation, choose to continue viewing content on TikTok with their eyes wide open, the First Amendment He entrusts them to make that choice, free from government censorship."
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday, in a brief filed with the Supreme Court, urged the court to reject any delay, likening TikTok to a hardened criminal.
Trump has a 'warm spot' for TikTok
A US ban on TikTok would make the company far less valuable to ByteDance and its investors, and hurt companies that rely on TikTok to drive their sales.
US President-elect Donald Trump, who unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok during his first term in 2020, has reversed his stance and promised during this year's presidential race that he would try to save TikTok. Trump said on December 16 that he has "a warm spot in my heart for TikTok" and would "take a look" at the matter.
Trump takes office on January 20, the day after TikTok's statutory deadline.
In its decision, the D.C. Circuit wrote: "The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. Here the government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit the ability this adversary to collect data on the people of the United States."
TikTok has denied that it has or would ever share data on US users, accusing US lawmakers in the lawsuit of advancing speculative concerns, and has characterized the ban as a "radical departure from this country's tradition of defend an open Internet".
The dispute comes at a time of rising trade tensions between the world's two largest economies after President Joe Biden's administration placed new restrictions on China's chip industry and China responded with a ban on gall exports Li, germanium and antimony in the United States.
The U.S. law would prohibit TikTok and other apps controlled by foreign adversaries from providing certain services, including offering them through app stores such as Alphabet's Apple and Google, effectively preventing their continued use in the U.S. unless that ByteDance divest TikTok before the deadline.
An unfettered ban could open the door to a future crackdown on other foreign-owned apps. In 2020, Trump also tried to ban WeChat, owned by the Chinese company Tencent, but was blocked by the courts.
Closing order in Canada
In November, citing national security concerns, the Trudeau government ordered TikTok to shut down its Canadian operations, but said users would still be able to access the popular video app.
The government had ordered the dissolution of TikTok's Canadian business following a national security review of the Chinese company behind the social media platform.
In response, TikTok filed documents in Vancouver Federal Court this month challenging the federal government's order to shut down its Canadian operations, claiming it will eliminate hundreds of jobs and potentially terminate a quarter of a million contracts it has with Canadian advertising clients.
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