The Supreme Court to hear TikTok’s latest petition against the US ban

TikTok will appear before the US Supreme Court on Friday in its latest effort to overturn a ban in a case that tests the limits of national security and free speech.

The popular social media platform is defying a law passed last year that ordered the company to split from its Chinese owner or be banned from the US by January 19.

The US government argues that without the sale, TikTok could be used by China as a tool for espionage and political manipulation.

But TikTok rejects that claim, arguing that it has been unfairly targeted and that the measure violates the free speech rights of its 170 million American users.

Lower courts have sided with the government, but the case became complicated last month when President-elect Donald Trump weighed in on the case and asked for a stay on the law to allow time for a settlement.

Analysts say it is unclear what the Supreme Court will decide, but reversing the previous ruling – even with the blessing of a future president – would be unusual.

“When you pit a real government interest against a real constitutional value, it ends up being a very close case,” said Cardozo Law School professor Saurabh Vishnubhakat.

“But in such close cases, the government often gets the benefit of the doubt.”

The Supreme Court’s decision could be made within days.

Congress passed an anti-TikTok law last year with support from both the Democratic and Republican parties. The moment ended years of concern over the hugely popular platform, which is known for its viral videos and traction among young people.

The legislation does not ban the use of the app, but would require tech giants like Apple and Google to stop offering it and prevent updates, which analysts suggest would kill it over time.

TikTok is already banned on government devices in many countries, including the UK. Some countries, including India, have more complete bans.

The US argues that TikTok is a “serious” threat because the Chinese government could force its owner, ByteDance, to return user data or manipulate what it shows to users to serve Chinese interests.

Last December, a three-judge appeals court decision upheld the law, highlighting China’s record of acting through private companies and saying the measure was “justified as part of a broader effort by the country to address a well-proven threat to national security.”

TikTok has repeatedly denied any influence from the Chinese Communist Party and has said the law violates its users’ First Amendment free speech rights.

He has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the law, or to order a stay of its implementation to allow for a review of the legislation, which he says is based on “false, erroneous and hypothetical information”.

Trump will take office the day after the law goes into effect.

He called for a ban on the app in the US during his first term, but changed his tune on the campaign trail.

A document filed by Trump’s lawyers late last month did not take a position on the legal issue, but the case presented an “unprecedented, novel and difficult tension” between foreign policy and national security concerns. the other.”

Reflecting on his election victory, Trump said he is “against banning TikTok” and that he “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means when he takes office.”

The presentation came less than two weeks after Trump met the TikTok boss at Mar-a-Lago.

One of the president-elect’s top donors, Jeff Yass of the Susquehanna International Group, is a big player in the company.

However, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, is a supporter of banning the platform.

Investors who have expressed interest in buying TikTok include Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and former LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.

Lawyer Peter Choharis, who is part of the think tank Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, which filed its brief in support of the US government’s case, said it was difficult to predict what the court – which has a conservative majority – would do, and highlighted. Several recent court decisions have overturned longstanding precedents.

But he said that even if Trump gave him a chance to try to make a deal, he expected a ban in the end.

“I don’t see any president, including future President Trump, being able to resolve it in a way that’s good for US national security, because I don’t think ByteDance is going to agree to that,” he said.

The possibility of losing TikTok in the US has caused an outcry from many users, some of whom filed their own legal action last year.

In the presentation, they said that TikTok could be shut down because “the ideas on that platform could convince Americans of one thing or another – even something that could be harmful to our democracy – that it is against the First Amendment.”

The Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom of the Press Foundation are other groups weighing in on the dispute, arguing that the US failed to present “credible evidence of ongoing or imminent harm” caused by the social media app.

Mr Choharis said the government had the right to take action to defend itself, arguing that the fight was not about “speech” or “content”, but about the role of the Chinese government.

“It’s about control and how the Chinese Communist Party specifically, and the Chinese government in general, pursue strategic goals using many internet companies and especially social media companies, including TikTok specifically,” he said.