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20-12-2024
WASHINGTON: The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear TikTok’s bid to block a law that would ban or compel the sale of the video platform over its links to China.
The top justices signaled on Wednesday that they are willing to reconsider a decision by a lower court that upheld the law, but they stopped short of issuing an injunction to immediately suspend the US government’s effort to block TikTok.
The Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case on January 10, nine days before the government’s deadline to impose the ban.
US President Joe Biden approved the law, dubbed the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, in April after years of proclaimed concerns that the popular social media app may be used to steal Americans’ data and manipulate public opinion.
At the core of the case is determining whether banning TikTok is a violation of free speech rights granted by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The government argues that the ban falls under legitimate regulations of foreign-owned companies.
“The parties are directed to brief and argue the following question: Whether the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, as applied to petitioners, violates the First Amendment,” the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.
TikTok, which says it has 170 million monthly US users, called the law in a filing to the Supreme Court a “massive and unprecedented speech restriction”, invoking the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump on January 20.
“The act will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration,” TikTok’s lawyers wrote.
“This, in turn, will 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.”
Trump previously said he has a “warm spot” for TikTok, and he met its CEO Shou Chew on Monday.
TikTok noted in its petition to the Supreme Court that the US government has only raised the potential of data breaches and content manipulation without proving that these concerns have materialized.
The platform’s lawyers said the ban is motivated by “the content posted by TikTok’s users and alleged editorial choices by TikTok Inc. in disseminating that content”.
Some US politicians have accused TikTok of boosting pro-Palestine content and spreading anti-Semitism allegations that the platform has categorically denied.
A panel of judges on an appeals court earlier sided with the government’s argument that the effort against the platform is not about curbing free speech.
“The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” the judges wrote.
“Here the government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.” US Attorney General Merrick Garland welcomed that ruling.
“Today’s decision is an important step in blocking the Chinese government from weaponising TikTok to collect sensitive information about millions of Americans, to covertly manipulate the content delivered to American audiences, and to undermine our national security,” he said in a statement.
The Supreme Court is the highest level of appeal in the US judicial system. When it takes up a case, it signals that it is of significant national importance and that it merits to be heard at the top of the judiciary. (Int’l News Desk)
