The Supreme Court unanimously upheld a law that threatens to shut down the wildly popular TikTok social media platform in the US as soon as Sunday, ruling that free speech rights must yield to concerns that Chinese control of the app creates a national-security risk.
The high court said Friday Congress’ “well-supported” concerns about Chinese data collection justified a law that singled out TikTok. The measure requires ByteDance Ltd. to sell the American version of the video-sharing app by Jan. 19 or face a ban.
“TikTok’s scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the government’s national-security concerns,” the court said in an unsigned opinion.
The decision opens an uncertain chapter for TikTok and its 170 million US users. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to save TikTok and could choose to suspend enforcement of the new law once he takes office on Monday.
But the impact of that move would depend on the response of the tech companies that host and distribute TikTok, including Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google. Under the law, those companies would face the prospect of massive fines for continuing to support TikTok, and they would have to decide whether assurances from the Trump administration provide sufficient legal cover.
“My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation,” Trump said Friday in a social media post.
See also: TikTok restores service after Trump vows to extend deadline
Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Michael Waltz, said Thursday on Fox News that the administration will “put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark.” But TikTok may be preparing to shut the platform on Sunday, according to reports this week in The Information and Reuters.
In a video posted after the ruling, TikTok Chief Executive Shou Chew thanked Trump for “his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States.” He said the company was “fighting to protect the constitutional right to free speech for the more than 170 million Americans who use our platform every day to connect, create, discover and achieve their dreams.”
Possible sale
See also: TikTok goes dark for US users, disappears from app stores
ByteDance has insisted it won’t consider a sale, though the imminence of the ban could prompt the company to reconsider. Chinese officials are evaluating a potential option that involves Elon Musk acquiring the US operations of TikTok, Bloomberg News has reported.
Any sale would require approval from Trump, who would have to determine whether the deal would remove the app from Chinese control. The law also says the president can put the ban on hold if he certifies to Congress that ByteDance has agreed to a qualifying sale. Trump once supported a ban but now says he opposes one.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed TikTok Friday as part of a pre-inauguration conversation.
Biden administration officials have indicated they are unlikely to enforce the law before Trump’s inauguration on Monday. President Joe Biden signed the measure into law in April after it won approval from a bipartisan majority in Congress.
“The court’s decision enables the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok to undermine America’s national security,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland said in an emailed statement after the ruling.
National security
At the Supreme Court, the Biden administration defended the law as a national security imperative, saying that continuing Chinese control of TikTok will let a foreign adversary spread propaganda, covertly manipulate the platform and collect Americans’ data for espionage or blackmail purposes.
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The companies contended that foreign influence concerns are unfounded, arguing that TikTok Inc. is an American company incorporated and headquartered in California.
A group of content creators also urged the court to strike down the law, saying a ban would strip millions of Americans of their ability to speak to and hear from communities they have come to value.
The court said those interests weren’t enough to override the national-security concerns.
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the court said. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national-security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
The Jan 10 argument strongly suggested the court would uphold the law. Justice Neil Gorsuch was the only member to suggest skepticism during that session, and even he voted to uphold the measure, though he didn’t join the full court’s reasoning Friday.
“At this time and under these constraints, the problem appears real and the response to it not unconstitutional,” Gorsuch wrote.
The Supreme Court put the case on a fast track after TikTok and the content creators asked for the ban to be put on hold temporarily. The justices instead scheduled a special session that gave them time to issue a definitive ruling on the law’s constitutionality before Jan 19.
The cases are TikTok v. Garland, 24-656, and Firebaugh v. Garland, 24-657.
