Supreme Court Appears Inclined To Uphold U.S. TikTok Ban

The US Supreme Court appears ready to uphold a law mandating the sale or banning of the popular short-video app TikTok in the United States by January 19.

The nine justices questioned lawyers for TikTok, ByteDance, and app users about the risks of the Chinese government exploiting the platform for surveillance and covert influence operations.

The law was prompted by national security concerns related to its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, Andrew Chung, John Kruzel, and David Shepardson reported for Reuters.

During 2.5 hours of arguments, the nine justices questioned lawyers for TikTok, ByteDance, and app users about the risks of the Chinese government exploiting the platform for surveillance and covert influence operations.

Chief Justice John Roberts highlighted the concerns, asking, “Are we supposed to ignore the fact that the ultimate parent is, in fact, subject to doing intelligence work for the Chinese government?”

The companies and users filed suit to block the law, which was passed by Congress with bipartisan support and signed by outgoing President Joe Biden. They argued it violates the First Amendment’s free speech protections.

While some justices acknowledged free speech concerns, the Court’s focus seemed to be on the potential national security risks posed by TikTok’s data collection practices. The app currently has about 170 million users in the US, nearly half of the country’s population.