Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban-or-sale law slated to start Sunday

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law set to ban social media platform TikTok in less than 48 hours. Photo by ABC News)

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Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban-or-sale law slated to start Sunday

By Nilay Seetharaman
Tell Us USA News Network

Summary
-Trump vows his TikTok decision in "not too distant future"
-White House signals Biden will not act to save TikTok
-Law was passed on national security grounds
-TikTok cites constitutional free speech safeguards

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a federal law that effectively bans TikTok in the United States on Sunday unless the wildly popular video-sharing app pulls off an unlikely, last-minute divestiture from Chinese ownership.

A sale does not appear imminent and, although experts have said the app will not disappear from existing users’ phones once the law takes effect, new users won’t be able to download it and updates won’t be available. That will eventually render the app unworkable, the Justice Department has said in court filings.

“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 decision 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.”

A statement issued by the White House suggested that Biden, in the waning days of his presidency, would not take any action to save TikTok before the law's Sunday deadline for divestiture. Republican Donald Trump, who opposed a TikTok ban, succeeds Biden on Monday.

"The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it," Trump said in a social media post. "My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!"

While Trump has pledged to rescue the app from the ban-or-sale law, how he plans to do so remains unclear. The press reported Wednesday that the president-elect is exploring unorthodox ways to aid the platform, including issuing an executive order once he takes office that would suspend enforcement of the law for 60 to 90 days. Legal experts have questioned whether an executive order can stop a law passed by Congress.

Some digital rights groups slammed the court’s ruling shortly after it was released.

“Today’s unprecedented decision upholding the TikTok ban harms the free expression of hundreds of millions of TikTok users in this country and around the world,” said Kate Ruane, a director at the Washington-based Center for Democracy & Technology, which has supported TikTok’s challenge to the federal law.

Content creators who opposed the law also worried about the effect on their business if TikTok shuts down. “I’m very, very concerned about what’s going to happen over the next couple weeks,” said Desiree Hill, owner of Crown’s Corner mechanic shop in Conyers, Georgia. “And very scared about the decrease that I’m going to have in reaching customers and worried I’m going to potentially lose my business in the next six months.”

The justices heard arguments last Friday, and a majority of them appeared satisfied with the government’s position that the law was aimed not at TikTok’s speech rights but rather at its ownership. Noel J. Francisco, a lawyer for TikTok, did not dispute the security risks but argued that the government could address them through other means rather than effectively ordering the app to “go dark.”