US Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban law

US Supreme Court Legally upheld On Friday this may lead to Ban on TikTok In the United States this Sunday.

“There is no doubt that TikTok, for more than 170 million Americans, provides a distinctive and broad outlet for expression, a means of engagement, and a resource for community,” the court’s unanimous ruling said. “But Congress determined that divestment was necessary to address well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the company is said to be planning to do so Close the application For users in the United States on Sunday, the deadline for extension.

For more than five years, US government officials have tried to ban or force the sale of TikTok, accusing the Chinese-owned company of sharing US user data with the Chinese government and filling feeds with pro-China propaganda. Congress and agencies like the FBI have not provided the public with much information confirming these claims, but they have taken a variety of different approaches to ban TikTok.

In 2020, former President Donald Trump attempted to do so for the first time TikTok ban Through a failed executive order. Ultimately, President Joe Biden signed a bill on April 24, 2024 requiring TikTok’s parent company, Bytedance, to sell the app to a US owner by January 19 or be removed from US app stores. In a rush to stave off a ban, TikTok and a group of creators quickly filed lawsuits against the Justice Department, arguing that the law, the Protecting Americans from Censored Foreign Apps Act, violated their First Amendment rights.

In oral arguments on Friday, TikTok’s attorney, Noel Francisco, and Jeffrey Fisher, who represents the creators, tried to make that argument. For the government, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said the law did not violate the defendants’ free speech rights, and instead cut off the app from Bytedance and Chinese influence.

“Without question, the remedy chosen by Congress and the President here is dramatic,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a concurring opinion. He added: “I do not know whether this law will succeed in achieving its goals.” A determined foreign adversary may merely seek to replace one missing surveillance application with another. As time passes and threats evolve, less dramatic and more effective solutions may emerge.

In its opinion, the court shot down TikTok’s central argument that the law violates the company’s rights to free expression, writing that “the challenged provisions are content-neutral.” The justices wrote that the law does not regulate the speech of TikTok or its creators, and instead targets the app and Bytedance’s corporate structure.

“It is not clear that the law itself directly regulates protected expressive activity, or conduct that includes an expressive component,” the opinion said. “It directly regulates Bytedance Ltd. and TikTok only through divestiture requirements.”

The judges point out that their decision should be viewed as “narrow in focus” and apply strictly to TikTok. “TikTok’s size and susceptibility to control by foreign adversaries, coupled with the vast amounts of sensitive data collected by the platform, justify preferential treatment to address the government’s national security concerns,” the opinion said.