The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law requiring China's ByteDance to divest ownership of TikTok by Sunday under threat effective ban a popular social video application in the USA
ByteDance has so far refused to sell TikTok, which means many US users could do so lose access for application this weekend. The app may still work for those who already have TikTok on their phones, although ByteDance has also threatened to shut down the app.
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration, upholding the President's Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by a Foreign Adversary Act. Joe Biden signed in April.
“There is no doubt that for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive platform of expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the Supreme Court opinion said. “But Congress has determined that divestment is necessary to address legitimate national security concerns about TikTok's data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch wrote concurring conclusions.
The fate of TikTok in the US is now in the hands of the newly elected president Donald Trumpwho initially favored banning TikTok during his first administration but has since reversed that decision. In December, Trump he asked Supreme Court to suspend the application of the law and give his administration “the opportunity to politically resolve the issues at issue.”
After that, Trump started speaking more favorably about TikTok we met in February with billionaire Republican megadonor Jeff Yass. Yass is the main investor in ByteDance, which also holds shares of the owner Social truthTrump's social media platform.
Trump will be inaugurated on Monday, the day after TikTok's sales deadline. TikTok CEO Shou Chew is one of several technology leaders expect attendancesitting on a platform.
The country's highest court said in its opinion that while “data collection and analysis is a common practice in the digital age,” TikTok's sheer size and its “susceptibility to control by a foreign adversary, combined with the vast amount of sensitive data collected by the platform,” poses a risk for national security.
In accordance with legal regulations, external internet service providers, e.g Apple AND Google will be fined for supporting ByteDance-owned TikTok after the January 19 deadline.
If ISPs and app store owners comply with these rules, they will remove TikTok from their app stores, preventing users from downloading TikTok or installing necessary updates to keep the app functional.
Representatives for TikTok did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated President Biden's support for the bill in a statement, stating that “TikTok should remain available to Americans, but only under U.S. ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing it.” laws. “
“Given the mere fact that this is a timetable issue, the current administration recognizes that action to implement the law must simply fall to the next administration that takes office on Monday,” Pierre said.
Kate Ruane, director of the nonprofit Center for Democracy and Technology, criticized the Supreme Court's decision, saying in a statement that it “harms the free speech of hundreds of millions of TikTok users across the country and around the world.”
“Individuals use apps to create, share information, receive news, comment on current issues and promote their businesses – exactly the type of expression the First Amendment is intended to protect,” Ruane said.
In December, members of the House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent letters to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, urging executives to begin preparing to comply with the law and reminding them of their responsibilities as app store operators.
Last Friday, The Supreme Court heard oral arguments from lawyers representing TikTok, content creators and the U.S. government. TikTok's lead lawyer, Noel Francisco, argued that the new law violates the First Amendment rights of the app's 170 million American users. Meanwhile, US Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar responded that the app's alleged ties to the People's Republic of China through its parent company ByteDance pose a national security threat.
After oral arguments ended, many legal experts said the nation's highest court seemed more sympathetic to the U.S. government's case regarding TikTok's alleged questionable ties to the Chinese government.
Many TikTok creators tell their fans to find them on rival social media platforms like Google's YouTube and Meta's Facebook and Instagram, CNBC reported. Additionally, according to a CNBC report, Instagram leaders scheduled meetings after Friday's Supreme Court hearing to instruct employees to prepare for a surge of users if the court upholds the law.
Chinese social media app i RedNote, which resembles TikTok, rose to the top on Monday in the Apple app store, indicating that millions of TikTok users were looking for alternatives.
The Chinese government also weighed approx contingency plan this will see Elon Musk take over TikTok's US operations as part of several options aimed at saving the app from an effective US ban, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. According to the report, this plan was one of several that the Chinese government was considering as part of broader discussions on cooperation with the future Trump White House.
In the event that ByteDance decides to sell TikTok to an American company or group of investors, potential buyers will have to pay from $40 billion and $50 billionaccording to estimates by Angelo Zino, CFRA's senior vice president of research.
TO WATCH: : SCOTUS is reviewing the TikTok ban case.