WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will hear challenges to the new law: Could lead to TikTok ban in USsetting up a showdown over access to the widely popular app used by tens of millions of Americans.
Arguments are scheduled to be heard in the High Court on January 10th, allowing the court to consider the issue before the law takes effect on January 19th.
In a brief order, the Supreme Court said the Justice Department, TikTok’s lawyers, and the user groups that separately challenged the law will argue whether the ban passed by Congress violates the First Amendment. He said he should be ready.
TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, asked the high court Earlier this week, it took steps to temporarily block enforcement of the law while it appeals a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In its order, the Supreme Court said consideration of the request for emergency relief would be deferred until oral argument.
TikTok ban
“Congress’s unprecedented attempt to screen applicants and bar them from operating one of the most important speech platforms in this country is a serious and “It raises constitutional questions that this court probably won’t accept.”
TikTok was struck by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit on December 6th. rejected the attempt to overturn the law. A week later, the Court of Appeals rejected TikTok has asked that the law be delayed until it is reviewed by the Supreme Court.
The law, passed by Congress in April as part of a foreign aid package, requires TikTok to sever ties with Chinese parent company ByteDance or immediately lose access to U.S. President Biden’s app store and web hosting services. He was given a nine-month grace period. signed the bill into lawand if a sale is in progress, a one-time 90-day delay may be granted by the president and is scheduled to take effect on January 19th.
President-elect Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term in office, but reversed his stance during the presidential campaign and vowed to “save” the app. “We will look at TikTok,” he told reporters at a press conference on Monday, saying the platform helped win the youth vote in November’s election.
“I have a passion for TikTok in my heart,” he said. On the same day, President Trump Meeting with TikTok CEO Shu Chiu at his Mar-a-Lago home.
Arguments before the Supreme Court are scheduled for January 10, and the Biden administration will present the government’s case. TikTok is represented in the high court by Noel Francisco, who served as attorney general during President Trump’s first term.
Still, TikTok is hoping either the Supreme Court or President Trump will save it.
In a Dec. 6 ruling, the appeals court ruled that the U.S. government’s concerns about the Chinese government’s collection of Americans’ data and its ability to covertly manipulate content on its platforms constitute a “compelling national security interest.” I decided. The court said the government’s concerns were “well-founded” and pushed back on TikTok’s argument that the risks were speculative.
The appeals court said it recognized its decision would have a “significant impact” on TikTok and its users.
“As a result, TikTok’s millions of users will need to find alternative communication media,” Senior Justice Douglas Ginsburg wrote for the court. “That burden is due to the (People’s Republic of China’s) hybrid commercial threat to U.S. national security, and not the U.S. government’s fault for engaging with TikTok through a multi-year process to find alternative solutions. .”
When it challenged the law in May, TikTok said a forced sale was “commercially, technically and legally impossible, so we never had to choose between a sale and a ban.” ‘ he claimed. The Chinese government has vowed to block the sale of TikTok’s algorithm, which recommends content tailored to each user. New buyers will need to rebuild the algorithms that run the app. The petition states that under the law’s limitations, “such a fundamental restructuring is simply not possible.”
“The platform consists of millions of lines of software code, painstakingly developed over several years by thousands of engineers,” the petition says.
