US Supreme Court to hear Chinese-owned TikTok’s appeal against ban
New York: The US Supreme Court extended TikTok a thin, temporary lifeline on Wednesday, agreeing to hear its appeal against the law banning it if it did not give up its Chinese ownership.
The court put the appeal on an unusually fast track, setting a hearing on January 9, 10 days before the law passed by Congress comes into force.
The court did not order a stay of the law but agreed to hear the case leaving open the possibility that the appeal could be thrown out or upheld or temporarily stayed pending further consideration.
TikTok, whose parent is the Chinese company ByteDance, took the case to the nation’s highest court after an appeals court had ruled against the company’s argument that the law violated the US Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of expression.
Congress’s rationale for requiring the company to give up its Chinese ownership or face a ban was national security, and the appeals court accepted it.
The law had the support of both the Democratic and Republican parties.
The legislators and President Joe Biden’s administration point out that there are national security risks because the Chinese government could get access to information about 120 million Americans who use it and it could manipulate TikTok for propaganda.
India banned TikTok and 58 other apps in 2020 over national security concerns.
Ironically, while the company claims protection under the US Constitution’s First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of expression, China itself bans TikTok along with US social media companies like Facebook and Youtube.
The ban is set to come into force two days before Donald Trump takes office as President.
Although he initiated the move for the ban during his first term, he has changed his mind now.
Citing national security risks, he ordered unilaterally in 2020 that it should be sold or face a ban, and while several companies scrambled to buy it, a court stayed the order.
Congress stepped in and passed the law circumventing that court order.
US social media companies had tried to censor Trump, while TikTok gave him free rein, he is taking a benign attitude.
“You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” he said at a news conference on Monday.
He mentioned its popularity among young people and said, “TikTok had an impact, so we’re taking a look at it.”
He met TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Monday.
If the Supreme Court upholds the ban, Trump cannot undo the law, which Congress alone can.
However, he can ask the Justice Department to go easy on enforcing the ban.
Under the law passed in April and signed by Biden, app stores like Google’s and Apple’s cannot provide TikTok in the US, and internet hosting companies cannot support it from January 19.
If they do not comply, they could face fines running into billions of dollars because the penalty is $5,000 for each user given access to TikTok.