Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban

The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration on a law that could ban TikTok in the coming days. By unanimous consent of the court He upheld the law“TikTok’s size and susceptibility to control by foreign adversaries, coupled with the vast amounts of sensitive data collected by the platform, justify differential treatment to address the government’s national security concerns,” he wrote in an unsigned opinion.

The ruling marks the end of TikTok’s numerous legal challenges to the law. It passed last springThis would require ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban in the United States. This comes amid escalating tensions between the United States and China, and just days after the Biden administration moved there Export restriction Graphics processing units used for artificial intelligence applications.

However, TikTok’s future remains uncertain. White House officials said Thursday that the Biden administration It will not be imposed The ban is on President Joe Biden’s last day in office. So did incoming President Donald Trump, who will be sworn in one day after the ban goes into effect Suggested He wants to “save” the application. This has raised some speculation that he may instruct the Justice Department not to enforce the law or find some of it Another arrangement That would allow the app to remain accessible to everyone.

Trump wrote in his letter: “The Supreme Court’s decision was expected, and everyone should respect it.” job On social truth. “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I should have time to review the situation.” he He also said He discussed TikTok with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, but did not provide details. Earlier in the week, The Washington Post I mentioned that Trump was thinking Executive order That would give TikTok an additional “60 or 90 days” to comply with the law. TikTok CEO Shou Chew is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration, where he will attend Sit side by side Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk.

In a brief statement he shared On TikTokChiu thanked Trump, but did not say whether the app would stop working at the end of this week when the ban goes into effect. “I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to working with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States,” he said. “This is a strong position in favor of the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship.” Representatives of TikTok, Google, Apple, and Oracle (which Hosts (TikTok US Data) did not respond to questions about its plans to comply with the law.

In a concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding TikTok’s future. “Even what might happen after TikTok remains unclear,” he wrote. “All I can say is that at this time and under these restrictions, the problem appears real and the response to it is not unconstitutional.”

Free expression groups have denounced the law and the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold it. “The Supreme Court’s ruling is incredibly disappointing, allowing the government to shut down an entire platform and the free speech rights of many on the basis of fear-mongering and speculation,” Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a statement. . “By refusing to block this ban, the Supreme Court gives the executive branch unprecedented power to silence speech it doesn’t like, raising the risk that sweeping invocations of ‘national security’ will trump our constitutional rights.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, said in… statement “Banning or forcing the sale of a social media app will do almost nothing to protect Americans’ data privacy — only comprehensive consumer privacy legislation can achieve that goal.”

TikTok users also vocally opposed the ban. Before the law was passed, Legions of fans They contacted the offices of their representatives in Congress and urged them not to support the bill. The move may have had unintended consequences as some members of Congress accused TikTok, which encouraged users to make calls, of “interfering in the legislative process.” More recently, TikTok fans have paid attention to a number of previously unknown apps, including the Chinese social media app Known as “Red Note” Or Xiaohongshu, to the top of the app stores as they search for alternatives.

Updated January 17, 2025 at 9:45 AM PT: This post has been updated to add details from a statement made by Shou Chew.