The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear TikTok owner ByteDance’s appeal of a law that could ban the app. The court took up the case (via NBC News) unusually quickly — only two days after the company filed its appeal. Oral arguments are scheduled for January 10.
The law being challenged, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, is set to go into effect on January 19, the day before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. The court didn’t provisionally block the law when saying it would take up the case.
The bill mandates that the app be banned if ByteDance doesn’t sell the platform to an American company. It was passed with overwhelming support in Congress and signed by President Biden in April. The argument was that TikTok had become a national security issue.
The Justice Department defended the law in lower courts, citing concerns that the Chinese government could influence the company and collect data about American citizens. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the legislation earlier this month.
ByteDance has claimed the law violates free speech rights, a position the ACLU has supported. Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term but changed his tune during the 2024 Presidential campaign.
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