US Supreme Court To Hear TikTok’s Bid To Avoid Ban

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear final legal arguments from TikTok in its bid to avoid being banned or forced to sell its US operations.

Report has it that the US government is pursuing action against the popular app over alleged ties to the Chinese state, accusations that TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, have consistently denied.

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While the Supreme Court declined TikTok’s request for an emergency injunction to block the legislation, it will allow TikTok and ByteDance to present their arguments on January 10—just nine days before the ban is set to take effect.

Earlier this month, a federal appeals court upheld the legislation, describing it as “the culmination of extensive, bipartisan action by Congress and successive presidents.”

The Supreme Court, as the nation’s highest legal authority, rarely takes on cases, accepting only about 100 of the more than 7,000 petitions it receives annually. Its decision to hear TikTok’s case underscores the issue’s significance.

TikTok has previously argued that a ban would violate the US Constitution by infringing on the free speech rights of its users. In a statement on Wednesday, the company expressed satisfaction with the Supreme Court’s decision to hear its case.

TikTok

“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,” a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement.

The appeal sets up a clash between free speech and national security, 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.

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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.

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