US Supreme Court to hear TikTok challenge to potential ban
The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear TikTok’s final legal arguments on why it should not be banned or sold in the United States.
The US government is pursuing action against the app due to alleged connections to the Chinese government—claims that TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have denied.
While the Court did not grant TikTok’s request for an emergency injunction against the law, it has allowed TikTok and ByteDance to present their case on January 10, just nine days before the proposed ban is set to take effect.
Earlier in December, a federal appeals court dismissed an effort to overturn the legislation, describing it as the result of “extensive, bipartisan action by Congress and successive presidents.”
The Supreme Court, the highest legal authority in the country, only hears about 100 cases annually out of more than 7,000 petitions, making its decision to take up TikTok’s case highly significant.
TikTok has previously argued that the ban would violate the First Amendment by restricting the free speech of its users in the US.
In a statement to the BBC, a TikTok spokesperson expressed satisfaction with the Supreme Court’s decision, saying, “We believe the Court will find the TikTok ban unconstitutional so the over 170 million Americans on our platform can continue to exercise their free speech rights.”
The appeal sets the stage for a legal showdown between national security concerns and free speech, according to University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias.
“The appeals court found that national security was stronger than the First Amendment contentions. However, the Justices will scrutinize the potentially conflicting, but significant, values,” Mr Tobias said in an email.
While it is difficult to predict the outcome, Cornell professor Sarah Kreps said it would be surprising to the court to overturn the prior rulings and go against the wills of both congress and the White House.
“The case has already gone through the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the lower court, all of which upheld the argument that TikTok’s ownership by China-based ByteDance poses a national security risk,” Dr Kreps said.
TikTok’s future does not just hang on the legal process, however – Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election may also hand it a lifeline.
He met TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew on Monday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the BBC’s US partner CBS News reported, citing sources familiar with the meeting.
Trump has publicly said he opposes the ban, despite supporting one in his first term as president.
But he will not take office until 20 January, the day after the deadline for TikTok to be banned or sold.
“I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok, because I won youth by 34 points,” he claimed at a press conference on Monday – though a majority of 18 to 29-year-olds backed his opponent Kamala Harris.
“There are those that say that TikTok has something to do with that,” he said.
But despite Trump’s support, senior Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, urged the Supreme Court to reject TikTok’s bid.
In a brief filed to the court, he called the firm’s arguments “meritless and unsound.”
TikTok has the backing of some civil liberties organisations however.
A group of them have made a joint filing to the court urging it to block the banning of a platform which they argue “millions use every day to communicate, learn about the world, and express themselves.”
