On December 18, the US Supreme Court agreed to consider TikTok’s lawsuit against US law that requires parent company ByteDance to divest capital from TikTok or the platform must be banned from operating.
President Joe Biden signed this law in April and the deadline for ByteDance to divest from TikTok is January 19, 2025. If you do not comply, TikTok will be removed from application stores and web hosting services in the US.
The US Supreme Court has agreed to consider TikTok’s lawsuit
TikTok believes that this law violates the right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment of the US constitution. According to the company, if implemented, this law would shut down one of the most popular speech platforms in the US, one day before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. TikTok has 170 million users in the US.
“This law will silence the voices of the plaintiffs and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, the arts and other issues of public concern,” TikTok said. Joining the lawsuit are TikTok, ByteDance and a group of content creators on this platform.
Mr. Trump is softer on TikTok, stating conditions for the US to stay in NATO
The US Supreme Court will hold a trial on January 10, 2025, 9 days before the deadline, to hear arguments from the parties. TikTok is satisfied with the above decision and believes the court will determine the ban is unconstitutional.
Previously, the appeals court unanimously upheld the content of the above law, saying that the Chinese parent company’s divestment from TikTok is core to protecting national security.
The US government accuses TikTok of allowing China to collect data and track users, and is also a propaganda tool for Beijing. China and ByteDance deny these allegations.
President-elect Trump once opposed TikTok but has now changed his opinion. He is worried that banning TikTok will benefit other social networks, especially billionaire Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. Mr. Trump’s account was suspended by Facebook after the riot at the US Congress on January 6, 2021.
Earlier this week, Mr. Trump said he had a warm position for TikTok, and that the upcoming administration would review the platform and the above ban.
