The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the federal law banning TikTok beginning Sunday unless it’s sold by its China-based parent company.
The court upheld that the app’s risk to national security posed by its ties to China overcomes concerns about limiting the freedom of speech for the 170 million U.S. users.
The app won’t disappear from people’s phones, but new users won’t be able to download it, and updates will not be available, eventually rendering the app unusable.
President-Elect Donald Trump has said he will negotiate a solution to keep the app accessible, and President Joe Biden has said his administration won’t enforce the law Sunday, his last day in office. It’s possible Trump will sign an executive order circumventing the ban.
The U.S. argued it had concerns about TikTok collecting large amounts of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, while could possibly fall into the hands of the Chinese government. TikTok countered that the U.S. had not produced evidence that China has tried to manipulate content on its U.S. platform or gather American data through TIkTok, and the app’s lawyers said the ban is a violation of freedom of speech.
TikTok’s parent company has said it will not sell. It’s currently unclear if TikTok will voluntarily go dark for Americans on Jan. 19.
