US Supreme Court Upholds Law Banning TikTok

Sunday Ehigiator with agency report

The United States Supreme Court yesterday upheld a law banning TikTok in the country on national security grounds if its Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell the short-video app by Sunday.

The justices in a 9-0 decision declined to rescue a platform used by about half of all Americans.
The justices ruled that the law, passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress last year and signed by Democratic President, Joe Biden, did not violate the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech.

According to Reuters, 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.

“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement and source of community. But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary,” the court said in the unsigned opinion.

A statement issued by the White House suggested that Biden, in the waning days of his presidency, would not take any action to save TikTok before the law’s Sunday deadline for divestiture.
Republican Donald Trump, who opposed a TikTok ban, succeeds Biden on Monda

y.
“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 also said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed issues including TikTok in a phone call on Friday.
The court’s unanimity underscored the acceptance by the justices of the national security risks cited by Biden’s administration concerning China’s potential to exert control over the app, which blunted apprehensions over free speech infringements.

“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 in the opinion.

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.”
Given the timing, Jean-Pierre added, action to implement the law “must fall to the next administration.”

TikTok plans to shut U.S. operations of the app on Sunday barring a last-minute reprieve, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Wednesday.