The main line
Justices at the Supreme Court signaled on Friday that they may uphold the federal law banning TikTok unless it divests from ByteDance, expressing skepticism about TikTok’s opposition to the law during oral arguments, raising the possibility that the popular video app could be banned longer January 19, unless TikTok starts by splitting from its Chinese-owned parent company.
Tiffany Cianci, who says she’s a “long-form educational content creator,” streams live on TikTok … [+]
Key facts
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Friday on whether the federal law — which requires TikTok to split from parent company ByteDance or be banned — violates the First Amendment.
TikTok and content creators on the app argued that the ban violates their First Amendment rights by shutting down all speech on the platform, while the federal government argued that the ban is necessary for national security, given ByteDance’s Chinese ownership.
Justices on both sides of the aisle appeared skeptical of TikTok’s arguments on Friday, with Justice Elena Kagan questioning how TikTok’s First Amendment rights are implicated when the law specifically targets ByteDance — a foreign-owned company — and its algorithm.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett similarly suggested the law is targeting ByteDance and its discretion over its algorithm, rather than TikTok, and Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson said she thought the case was more about TikTok wanting to be linked with ByteDance than to silence his speech, suggesting TikTok is “wrong” that the case violates its First Amendment rights since it can still publish his speech if it disassociates from ByteDance.
Chief Justice John Roberts said the federal law was “in no way a burden on” TikTok and its users’ “expression,” arguing that Congress was fine with users’ speech on the app, but not simply a “foreign adversary” that collects information about the application. users.
Judge Brett Kavanaugh cited past examples of US broadcasters being blocked from having ties to foreign governments and raised government concerns about TikTok’s data collection of US users, which he said “seems like a concern great for the future of the country”.
Crucial quotes
If the TikTok ban goes into effect, “At least as I understand it, we black out — basically the platform shuts down,” TikTok attorney Noel Francisco told the court on Friday about the impact of the federal law. “It’s basically going to stop working, I think that’s a consequence of this law.”
What to look for
While it usually takes months for the Supreme Court to issue its opinions after oral arguments, the decision in this case could come within days, before the ban is scheduled to take effect on January 19. The court declined to stay the law from taking effect when they took up the case, instead scheduling oral arguments quickly ahead of schedule, suggesting they are prepared to decide the fate of the ban immediately.
Is Trump in favor of banning Tiktok?
President-elect Donald Trump is not a formal party to the TikTok legal dispute, as he has not yet taken office, but the president-elect has filed a statement with the Supreme Court saying he opposes the ban and is asking the court to halt the law. from taking effect until after he takes office, rather than quickly deciding on it before January 19. “Such a stance would vitally give President Trump the opportunity to pursue a political resolution that could avoid the Court having to decide on these important constitutional issues,” his lawyers argued in court. The court is not bound to respond to Trump’s request, as he is not a formal party to the case.
Can Trump stop banning Tiktok?
Trump has little chance to save TikTok if the ban goes into effect: As president, he could order a 90-day pause in the law if there is evidence that TikTok is in the process of splitting from ByteDance, but so far the company is unwilling to do this. , and if Trump bans the law without this evidence, it could be overturned in court. Trump could also try to declare that TikTok complies with the law — but if it’s still owned by ByteDance, that could be similarly challenged in court — or try to negotiate a deal with ByteDance for it to sell the app. While ByteDance has so far been unwilling to sell TikTok to an American company, James Lewis, director of the Strategic Technologies Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told NPR China that ByteDance could probably be persuaded to approve the sale. of TikTok in exchange for Trump. dropping his threat of high tariffs on Chinese imports. Francisco acknowledged Friday that Trump could lift the ban once he takes office, saying that while he thought the app might go dark on Jan. 19, the day before Trump’s inauguration, the app might be “in a different world” after Jan. 20.
What happens if the Tiktok ban goes into effect?
If the Supreme Court upholds the ban and it goes into effect on Jan. 19 — or later, if it’s temporarily suspended until Trump takes office — it’s still unclear what will happen and what the impact will be for TikTok users. Federal law bars companies like Apple and Google from hosting TikTok in their US app stores unless ByteDance opts out, meaning users will no longer be able to download TikTok or update the app. This means that the app will eventually become outdated and unusable once it goes out of date. The law also prohibits Internet service providers from enabling the distribution of TikTok, such as Oracle, which handles the data of TikTok users in the US. The implications of that provision are less clear: As Francisco said on Friday, TikTok has maintained that it means the company could be shut down, saying in a filing that it can no longer “provide[e]
services that enable the TikTok platform to operate, effectively shutting down TikTok in the United States.” University of Minnesota law professor Alan Rosenstein noted to CBS News that TikTok could simply move those servers outside of the U.S., however, which would keep TikTok online in the U.S. — at least for the time being. short, before the application becomes obsolete. It’s still unclear what will happen to other aspects of TikTok’s US operations, such as its Creator Fund or the TikTok store, but the ban is expected to affect other ByteDance-owned apps such as CapCut and Lemon8.
Key background
The federal law requiring ByteDance to divest from TikTok was passed in April after long-standing concerns from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about the app’s ties to China. TikTok has long denied any wrongdoing or ties to the Chinese government, and specific government evidence justifying the ban has not been made public and filed in court under seal. Forbes has reported on numerous concerns involving the app, including TikTok spying on journalists, promoting Chinese propaganda criticizing US politicians, misusing user data and tracking “sensitive” words. TikTok and the app’s creators filed suit against the ban days after it was passed, but a federal appeals court ruled against them in December, upholding the law. The panel of judges ruled that the ban did not violate TikTok and its users’ First Amendment rights — because all content on the app would still be available if ByteDance simply left TikTok — and upheld the government’s assessment that a ban would TikTok owned by ByteDance is needed. The judges argued that the law is actually the least restrictive way to deal with national security concerns, given that it allows TikTok to continue operating in the US if it splits from ByteDance. TikTok and its creators went to the Supreme Court after the appeals court then refused to stay the law from taking effect while it appealed the case, and the Supreme Court quickly took it up and scheduled oral arguments for just weeks later.
Further reading
