Supreme Court seems likely to uphold TikTok ban
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Content creators livestream outside the Supreme Court on Friday. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Supreme Court seemed inclined Friday to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the U.S.
Why it matters: One of the most popular social media apps in the country may disappear next week.
State of play: The court heard oral arguments Friday over the new law that requires TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to either sell TikTok or shut it down in the U.S by Jan. 19. The law passed last year with broad bipartisan support and was signed by President Biden.
- TikTok and a group of its users challenged the law, saying it violates their First Amendment rights.
- Congress said the law was necessary because ByteDance is controlled by the Chinese government, and that its ability to harvest vast amounts of personal information from American users is therefore a national security threat.
Zoom in: Most of the justices homed in Friday on one central point: The law would allow TikTok to keep operating if it used an algorithm other than ByteDance's. And ByteDance, as a Chinese company, doesn't have First Amendment rights.
- "The law doesn't say TikTok has to shut down. It says ByteDance has to divest," Justice Amy Coney Barrett said.
- "The law is only targeted at this foreign corporation that doesn't have First Amendment rights. Whatever effect it has, it has," Justice Elena Kagan said.
- "Congress doesn't care what's on TikTok," Chief Justice John Roberts said. "Congress is fine with the expression."
- "It doesn't' say, 'TikTok, you can't speak,'" Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said.
All of those statements came during the justices' tough questioning of Noel Francisco, the lawyer representing TikTok.
- Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, defending the law on behalf of the federal government, also faced tough questions.
- Several justices seemed wary about one of the law's stated justifications — that the Chinese government could manipulate which content TikTok users see. That rationale does seem to have some First Amendment implications, they suggested.
- Some justices also questioned whether there might be a less restrictive way to make sure Americans know about China's potential influence over TikTok.
What's next: The court will likely rule quickly — given the looming Jan. 19 deadline.
