WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law requiring the shutdown of social media app TikTok's U.S. operations due to privacy and security concerns related to its Chinese owner.
The justices unanimously said the 2024 law did not violate the 1st Amendment or its free speech protections. The ruling means 170 million Americans could lose access to the popular social media platform as early as Sunday.
“There is no doubt that TikTok provides a distinctive and far-reaching means of expression, engagement, and source of community for more than 170 million Americans,” the court said in an unsigned opinion. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-founded national security concerns about TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary. ..we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights.”
The decision appears to leave TikTok's U.S. fate to either a last-minute sale by its Chinese owners or a reprieve from President Biden or President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump takes office on Monday, one day after the shutdown law takes effect. Recently, Trump said he would try to negotiate a deal that would keep TikTok afloat, presumably by separating it from Chinese government control.
Last year, the House and Senate approved the shutdown bill by large bipartisan votes, citing national security concerns that ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, was collecting data on tens of millions of Americans.
Congress ruled that TikTok must divest itself of its ownership by a “foreign adversary.”
In defense of the law, U.S. Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that TikTok and ByteDance “collect vast amounts of data about tens of millions of Americans” that China “could use for espionage or extortion.”
Biden and his administration tried to make progress on a separation agreement but failed. Government lawyers told the court they did not believe ByteDance could be trusted.
But Trump might see it differently. Although he initially supported efforts to ban TikTok in the US, he recently changed his position. “I care about TikTok,” Trump said last month.
A provision of the law allows the president to grant TikTok 90 days' notice if it determines that “significant progress” has been made in arranging a “qualified divestiture” from its foreign owners.