TikTok urges the US Supreme Court to block a looming ban, arguing the law violates free speech, as ByteDance faces a 19 January deadline to divest the app or face shutdown.
TikTok has asked the US Supreme Court to temporarily block a law requiring its China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app by 19 January or face a ban. The emergency request follows a lower court ruling that upheld the law, which Congress passed in April, citing national security concerns over TikTok's data access and content influence.
TikTok argues the law violates First Amendment free speech protections, stating users should decide whether to use the app despite alleged risks. The company warned that a shutdown, even for a month, could cause it to lose a third of its US users, harming its revenue, creators, and workforce.
The law would effectively ban TikTok—used by 170 million Americans—a day before Donald Trump's inauguration on 20 January. Trump, who previously attempted to ban TikTok in 2020, has since reversed his position, saying he would seek to save the platform.
TikTok requested the court's decision by 6 January to allow time for a potential shutdown, amid ongoing US-China trade tensions.
Michael Hughes, TikTok spokesperson, stated the company is asking the court to apply "rigorous scrutiny" to the law, as it traditionally does in free speech cases, and find it violates the First Amendment.
The D.C. Circuit ruled that the government acted to protect free speech by limiting a foreign adversary’s ability to gather data on Americans.
The law would prevent TikTok’s operation in the U.S. by barring app store services, unless ByteDance sells the app by the deadline.
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