January 14, 2025
New York – There is widespread belief in the United States that the Supreme Court may uphold a law banning TikTok in the country, frustrating most of TikTok’s 170 million users in the United States.
The ban on the hugely popular social media app will take effect on Sunday unless the app is sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance, which is unlikely. ByteDance said it would not sell TikTok despite repeated expressions of interest from potential U.S. buyers.
The nine justices hearing arguments Friday in a case that pits free speech against national security concerns appeared convinced that TikTok's alleged security threats transcend concerns about restricting the free speech and expression of U.S. users.
In arguments that lasted more than two and a half hours, Chief Justice John Roberts identified his main concerns: ByteDance's ownership of TikTok and what he said were ByteDance's demands that it cooperate with Chinese government intelligence.
However, TikTok has repeatedly said it will not share information about its users with the Chinese government.
Noel Francisco, a lawyer representing TikTok, told the judge that the law passed by a bipartisan majority in Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April would require TikTok to “shut down” on Sunday if the bill remains. .
Francisco urged the judge to provide a temporary pause to allow TikTok to continue operating. He said “we may be entering a different world again” after President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on Monday.
Trump, who has 14.8 million followers on TikTok, has also called for the deadline to be pushed back to give him time to negotiate a “political solution.” Francisco served as deputy attorney general during Trump's first presidential term.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Trump appointee, sounds like the only one to support TikTok's argument that the ban is unconstitutional. He called the arguments put forward by the Biden administration to defend the law a “paternalistic view.”
Gorsuch said TikTok has proactively issued warnings that its content could be manipulated. “Don't we generally believe that the best way to address problematic speech is to counter it?” he asked Deputy Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar, who is defending the law for the Biden administration.
Prelog believes warnings are not enough to offset the spread of misinformation.
Francisco, a lawyer for TikTok, stressed that the United States has provided no evidence that China is trying to manipulate content or collect data on American users, which TikTok insists is stored on American servers.
“This country has never taken steps to shut down a speech platform, let alone such an important speech platform,” he said.
Jenin Younes, a civil liberties attorney in Washington, D.C., wrote to her 136,000 followers on social media platform It should be negative. …Especially in a place like here where the government has failed to demonstrate that the law was specifically enacted to serve the government’s compelling interests.
TikTok users who already have the app installed on their phones will continue to be able to use it. However, new users will not be able to download it, and existing users will no longer receive updates. The U.S. Department of Justice said this would ultimately render the app inoperable.
Dean Ball, a researcher at the Mercatus Center, a think tank at George Mason University in Virginia, told the New York Times: “The letter of the law is about future downloads and updates. It's not about removing the app from people's phones.
However, TikTok has not said whether it will allow access to the app if it is banned, according to the Times.
If TikTok is not sold to approved buyers, federal law prohibits app stores from offering the product. The law will also ban website hosting providers from carrying TikTok.
Many U.S. TikTok users have expressed disappointment over the impending ban.
“In 2023, TikTok contributed more than $32 billion to the U.S. economy,” InvestmentKage posted on X on Sunday. “It helps support millions of creators, some of whom are unable to find work because of their disability, and the government wants to ban it. Then again, the government doesn't always have your best interests at heart.
“There's really no substitute for this app,” said Skip Chapman, co-owner of KAFX Body, a deodorant maker in Manasquan, New Jersey.
Chapman noted that more than 80% of his sales are generated on TikTok, and he hasn't seen the same results on Amazon or other platforms.
Chloe Joy Sexton, a cookbook author in Memphis, Tennessee, said TikTok changed her life. Sexton started using the app after being fired from her job because she was pregnant. She said the app helped her launch her company, Chloe's Giant Cookies.
“I've now shipped thousands of cookies around the world and even published a cookbook. … I rely almost entirely on TikTok to market my products,” she added.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Prelogar said an eventual sale of TikTok would allow the platform to resume operations even after the ban begins.
TikTok is in talks with the Biden administration in 2021-2022 to address concerns surrounding U.S. data privacy and the app's algorithm.
In court papers, it accused the government of essentially abandoning those talks after submitting a draft agreement in August 2022.
A three-judge federal panel unanimously upheld the law last month, prompting TikTok to appeal to the Supreme Court.
