US top court upholds law banning TikTok if not sold by ByteDance

The law bars providing certain services to TikTok and other foreign adversary-controlled apps including by offering it through app stores such as Apple and Google. (Photo/AP)

The US Supreme Court has upheld a law banning TikTok in the United States on national security grounds if its Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell the short-video app by Sunday, as the justices in a 9-0 decision declined to rescue a platform used by about half of all Americans.

The justices ruled on Friday that the law, passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress last year and signed by Democratic President Joe Biden, did not violate the US Constitution's First Amendment protection against government abridgement of free speech.

The justices affirmed a lower court's decision that had upheld the measure after it was challenged by TikTok, ByteDance and some of the app's users.

Republican Donald Trump, who opposed a TikTok ban, succeeds Biden on Monday.

"The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it," Trump said in a social media post. "My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!"

Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed issues including TikTok in a phone call on Friday.

"TikTok's scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the government's national security concerns," the court said.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a statement reiterated Biden's position that "TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law."

Without a decision by Biden to formally invoke a 90-day delay in the deadline, companies providing services to TikTok or hosting the app could face legal liability. It is not immediately clear if TikTok's business partners including Apple, Alphabet's Google and Oracle will continue doing business with it before Trump is inaugurated.

The uncertainty leaves open the possibility of a shutdown by TikTok on Sunday.

The law bars providing certain services to TikTok and other foreign adversary-controlled apps including by offering it through app stores such as Apple and Google.

Quick action

The Biden administration has said the law targets control of the app by a foreign adversary, not protected speech, and that TikTok could continue operating as-is if it is freed from China's control.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement the ruling affirmed that the law "protects the national security of the United States in a manner that is consistent with the Constitution."

"The court's decision enables the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok to undermine America's national security," Garland said. "Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to millions of Americans' sensitive data."

Mike Waltz, Trump's incoming national security adviser, said on Thursday the new administration will keep TikTok alive in the United States if there is a viable deal. Waltz said the incoming administration would "put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark," and cited the prov ision in the law allowing for a 90-day extension if there is "significant progress" toward a divestiture.

Free speech rights

TikTok has said the law endangers the First Amendment rights not only of it and its users, but also of all Americans.

TikTok has said that the ban would hit its user base, advertisers, content creators and employee talent. TikTok has 7,000 U.S. employees.

Noel Francisco, the lawyer for TikTok and ByteDance, told the Supreme Court that the app is "one of America's most popular speech platforms," and said that the law would require it to "go dark" unless ByteDance executes a qualified divestiture.

Francisco said the U.S. government's real target with this law is speech - specifically a fear that Americans could be "persuaded by Chinese misinformation." But the First Amendment leaves that up to people of the United States, not the government, Francisco said.

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Source: TRT