The Supreme Court upheld the TikTok ban, unaffected by its First Amendment claims

On Friday, the US Supreme Court upheld a law that may pave the way for this US ban on TikTok To take effect on Sunday.

The law, signed by President Joe Biden last year, will do just that The app was effectively banned in the United States If ByteDance, TikTok’s China-based parent company, does not sell to a buyer deemed suitable by US officials by January 19. TikTok has sued the law, claiming it violates the company’s First Amendment freedom of expression guarantees and TikTok’s 170 million users in the United States.

The judges were not convinced by this argument. In it The Supreme Court said the ruling That while TikTok is “a distinctive and broad outlet for expression, means of engagement, and community resource,” Congress determined that the sale was necessary to “address well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with adversary aliens.”

“For the reasons stated above, we conclude that the contested provisions do not violate the petitioners’ First Amendment rights,” the court said.

TikTok did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the court’s decision would allow the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from “weaponizing TikTok to undermine US national security.”

“Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to the sensitive data of millions of Americans,” Garland said in a Justice Department statement.

Lawyers for TikTok and the US government They defended their cases in oral arguments before the court late last week, where they pitted First Amendment views against national security concerns. Based on the questions and comments posed by the justices during the more than two-hour hearing, it appears they were more in line with the government’s argument that the case is not about freedom of expression but rather about the risks it poses. By foreign adversaries, in this case China.

Read more: Downloads, Trump and VPNs: Everything to know about a potential TikTok ban

Lawmakers in both political parties have long expressed concerns that TikTok could pose a national security threat and could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans or spread disinformation to advance China’s agenda.

TikTok continues to deny these accusations. Before the vote in Congress last year. TikTok has amassed its users in the United StatesHe called on them to urge their representatives on Capitol Hill to vote against the ban. But the measure ultimately passed by wide margins in both chambers of Congress.

It’s still unclear what will happen to TikTok over the next few days and in the long term.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a Justice Department statement that the next phase of the department’s efforts to sever TikTok’s connections to China, which will include implementing and enforcing the law after it takes effect on Sunday, “will be a process that continues over time.”

The white house He issued a statement Friday Saying that Biden’s position on TikTok has not changed. He still believes TikTok should remain available to Americans, but under ownership that satisfies the government’s national security concerns.

The statement said: “Given the reality of the timing, this administration realizes that measures to implement the law must fall to the next administration, which takes office on Monday.”

On Thursday a A Biden administration official said ABC News says the White House does not plan to enforce the law during the remaining days before Donald Trump is sworn in as president on Monday, January 20.

Trump, who pushed for the ban during his first term, says he no longer supports it. In late December, Trump’s lawyers Submit a friend note In this case. They did not take sides, but rather asked the court to postpone the ban to give Trump time to reach a “political solution.”