US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company or the popular app would face a ban starting on Sunday, one day before US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.
"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," the court's ruling said.
"We conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners' First Amendment rights," the court said, adding that the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is affirmed.
The court was referring to a judgement in December, when the US Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. dismissed TikTok's claim that the ban is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment rights of the 170 million US users.
TikTok then asked the Supreme Court to block the law, arguing that it will shutter one of America's most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration, and "silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern."
In April 2024, US President Joe Biden enacted the law that gives ByteDance only 270 days to sell TikTok, citing unfounded national security concerns. If the company fails to comply, the law will require app store operators such as Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their platforms starting on January 19, 2025.
The law has drawn widespread criticism. Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, wrote in an article in September that as with Huawei, "no evidence was disclosed" by US authorities that TikTok accounts are subject to actual surveillance or that the platform serves as a channel for "Chinese propaganda."
Despite the Supreme Court's ruling, Biden is unlikely to enforce a ban on TikTok, leaving the decision to the incoming Donald Trump administration, according to US media reports on Thursday citing White House officials.
Trump recently urged the Supreme Court to delay the TikTok ban to allow time for a negotiated solution.
The incoming president's National Security Adviser pick Mike Waltz told Fox News on Thursday that the incoming administration will work on a deal to keep the "fantastic platform" in place for Americans while protecting their data.
As the ban's effective date approaches, a large number of US TikTok users have flocked to the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book, or RedNote) this week to express their dissatisfaction with the US government.
These Americans, who call themselves "TikTok refugees," are engaging enthusiastically with Chinese users, sharing photos of cats and dogs, and asking about each other's daily lives.
