Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban

 

    The Supreme Court decided not to rescue TikTok from a divest-or-ban law.The justices said on Friday in a unanimous decision that the law did not violate the First Amendment rights of TikTok and its creators. The law requires ByteDance to divest from TikTok in the US by January 19 or effectively stop operating in the country. As a result, TikTok is likely to "go dark" in the US on Sunday as app stores and other business partners sever ties with the company to comply with the law.

    However, the Biden administration said on Friday that it would leave it to President-elect Donald Trump to implement the law after he takes office on Monday "given the sheer fact of timing."

    TikTok may also shut down the app on its own accord in the US on Sunday, The Information and Reuters reported earlier this week. On Tuesday, the company assured US TikTok employees that they would still have jobs even if the app were banned.

    The Supreme Court's decision was largely expected. Legal analysts told Business Insider last week that the court would likely rule against TikTok in deference to Congress' authority over national-security concerns. There is no doubt that TikTok "offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression," the court wrote in its decision, "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."

    Addressing concerns by a group of TikTok users who petitioned to save the app, the court said the law did not regulate creators' free speech but rather focused on a foreign adversary's control of the app. The law imposes "TikTok-specific prohibitions due to a foreign adversary's control over the platform," the court wrote." It does not "target particular speech based upon its content" or "regulate speech based on its function or purpose."

    TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
TikTok's appeal arrived in the Supreme Court after it lost its legal challenge to the divest-or-ban law in the DC Circuit in December.