The future of TikTok in the United States could be decided by the Supreme Court, which on January 10 will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the “divest-or-ban” law signed by Biden. The rule forces ByteDance to sell the app’s American activities to avoid a ban, but TikTok disputes that it limits free speech and hopes for the next occupant of the White House
19/12/2024
January 20th Donald Trump will take office for the second time as president of the United States. The deadline by which the Chinese company ByteDance is obliged is set for the day before, by a law signed in April by the outgoing president Joe Bidento divest TikTok’s operations in America to avoid a ban on the app, which has more than 170 million users in the country. Another date was added yesterday to the TikTok calendar, considered by Washington to be a risk to national security (due to its links with the Chinese Communist Party, data management and misinformation risk): January 10th. On that day, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the federal divest-or-ban law, particularly on whether the law impermissibly restricts free speech, violating the First Amendment.
It is unclear how long the court will take to issue a ruling. Last Monday, TikTok filed an appeal with the US Supreme Court, asking to postpone the law’s entry into force. The request presented by the company aims to suspend the entry into force of the rule approved by Congress, scheduled for January 19th. “The measure will lead to the suppression of one of the most popular platforms in the country, the day before the inauguration of the new presidential administration,” reads the appeal, in which TikTok also states that the law “will silence the voices of many US citizens who use the platform to talk about politics, commerce, art and other topics of public interest”.
The request was submitted while Shou Zi Chewthe CEO of TikTok, met with President-elect Trump at the latter’s private residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, according to reports Cnn.
ByteDance was banking on an injunction to give it time to reach a deal with Trump, who has said he opposes the TikTok ban because it would strengthen Meta, which he sees as a bigger problem. However, the fate of the app could be decided very quickly. The Court should grant the injunction only after the hearing if a majority of the justices agree that the law violates the First Amendment. In other words, if the Court “upholds” the law, it will not grant the injunction. And vice versa. The decision could come before Trump’s swearing-in. And if the Court “upholds” the law (a possible scenario), then the president could have great difficulty saving TikTok. Also because the strong bipartisan support for the law makes it unlikely that Congress will repeal it. Therefore, all that remains is the political path, with the hypothesis of an agreement between the American and Chinese governments.
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