Washington:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled against TikTok in a challenge to a federal law that would have required the popular short video app to be sold to Chinese parent company ByteDance or be banned in the U.S. on January 19. .
The justices found that the law, passed by Congress with an overwhelming bipartisan majority last year and signed by Democratic President Joe Biden, does not violate First Amendment protections against government abridgement of free speech. It was decided that Following challenges from TikTok, ByteDance, and some app users, the justices overturned a lower court ruling that had upheld the measure.
The Supreme Court acted quickly in this case, hearing arguments on January 10, just nine days before the deadline set under the law. The case pitted the right to free speech and national security concerns in the age of social media.
TikTok is one of the most prominent social media platforms in the United States, used by approximately 270 million Americans, about half of the U.S. population, including many young people. TikTok's main asset is its powerful algorithm, which serves short videos tailored to individual users' tastes. This platform displays a huge collection of user-submitted videos. These videos are often less than a minute long and can be viewed on smartphone apps or on the internet.
China and the US are economic and geopolitical rivals, and China's long-standing ownership of TikTok has raised concerns among US leaders. The TikTok battle unfolds in the waning days of Biden's presidency, when Republican Donald Trump will succeed him on Monday, and at a time of heightened trade tensions between the world's two largest economies.
The Biden administration has said the law targets control of the app by a foreign adversary, rather than protecting speech, and that TikTok could continue to operate as is if freed from Chinese control.
Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Preloger said in arguments in the lawsuit that the Chinese government's control of TikTok poses a “grave threat” to U.S. national security, and that China has amassed vast amounts of sensitive data about Americans. He said he was secretly trying to exert influence. Preloger said China is forcing companies like ByteDance to secretly hand over social media users' data and carry out instructions from the Chinese government.
TikTok's vast data set is a powerful tool that could be used by the Chinese government for harassment, recruitment, and espionage, and China “could use TikTok as a weapon to harm the United States at any time.” Preloger added.
This law was enacted in April last year. The Biden administration defended this in court. TikTok and ByteDance, as well as some users who post content to the apps, challenged the move and appealed to the Supreme Court after losing in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals on December 6.
President Trump's opposition to the ban marks a reversal of his stance from his first term in office, when he sought to ban TikTok. President Trump said he has “a warm spot in my heart for TikTok” and credited the app with helping him reach young voters in the 2024 election.
In December, President Trump asked the Supreme Court to put the law on hold to give the incoming administration “an opportunity to pursue a political solution to the issues in the case.” But while Trump vowed to “save” TikTok, many of his Republican allies supported a ban.
President Trump's incoming national security adviser, Mike Walz, said Thursday that the new administration will keep TikTok in the United States if there is a workable agreement. Walz said the incoming administration will “take steps to prevent TikTok from shutting down,” citing a provision in the law that allows for a 90-day extension if there is “significant progress” toward a sale.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday that TikTok should be given more time to find a U.S. buyer and that he would work with the Trump administration “to keep TikTok alive while protecting national security.” .
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will attend President Trump's inauguration on Monday, sitting among other prominent guests.
TikTok said the law jeopardizes the First Amendment rights of all American citizens, not just TikTok and its users. TikTok said the ban would hurt its user base, advertisers, content creators and employee talent. TikTok has 7,000 employees in the United States.
Noel Francisco, a lawyer for TikTok and ByteDance, told the Supreme Court that the app is “one of the most popular speech platforms in the United States” and that unless ByteDance makes a qualified sale, it will be “black market”. The law requires that the deceased be buried in
TikTok plans to cease operating its app in the United States on Sunday unless it is granted a last-minute reprieve, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.
Francisco said the U.S. government's real target with the law is speech, specifically the fear that Americans will be “persuaded by Chinese misinformation.” But the First Amendment leaves that up to the American people, not the government, Francisco said.
The law prohibits companies such as Apple and Alphabet's Google from providing certain services to apps controlled by TikTok and other foreign adversaries, including offering TikTok through app stores such as Apple and Alphabet's Google, without divestiture. This effectively prevents its continued use in the United States.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
