The Supreme Court unanimously voted to uphold the federal law banning TikTok unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells it. The court rejected claims that the company’s First Amendment rights would be violated.
The U.S. government has labeled TikTok a national security risk, citing concerns that the Chinese government could access and misuse user data.
In December 2019, the U.S. Army and Navy banned TikTok on government devices after the Department of Defense labeled it a security risk. As of Sunday, Jan. 19, the app could be banned across the United States.
A TikTok and ByteDance Ltd. lawyer told the justices that making a deal to sell the app would be difficult, as Chinese law restricts the sale of the algorithm that powers the platform’s success.
The Biden administration has said it won’t enforce the law on Sunday. It is unclear whether the Trump administration will address the ban once President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration occurs on Monday. The law allows for a 90-day pause in the restrictions on the app if progress toward a sale has been made before the law takes effect.
The possible ban on the app with over 170 million American users will cause disappointment, especially among younger generations. TikTok users have been migrating to a similar app called RedNote, another Chinese-owned app. In just two days, RedNote saw 700,000 new users migrate from TikTok.
The future of TikTok remains uncertain as the country awaits to see if ByteDance will sell its app or if it will be over for TikTok for good.
