The company that owns TikTok is going to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to try to fight off a new law that would ban the hugely popular social media app later this month.
The law would ban companies like Apple and Google from making TikTok available to users in the United States unless China-based parent company ByteDance sells it.
The ban is set to take effect on January 19, one day before Donald Trump’s inauguration as president.
The US Supreme Court is hearing ByteDance’s latest attempt to overturn the ban as unconstitutional.
Here’s what you need to know:
Why do US lawmakers want to ban TikTok?
The U.S. government views Chinese ownership of TikTok as a “grave threat to national security” because the Chinese government has the power to force ByteDance to hand over user data and because it fears China is using TikTok’s powerful algorithm to spread it could benefit from disinformation.
“TikTok’s collection of reams of sensitive data on 170 million Americans and their contacts makes it a powerful tool for espionage, and TikTok’s role as a key communications channel makes it a potent weapon for covert influence operations,” U.S. Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar A wrote Government letter to the court.
The government argues that the law is not intended to restrict users’ free expression, but rather to end a foreign adversary’s control over TikTok.
How would the ban work?
The Law would ban TikTok in the US if ByteDance fails to relinquish ownership of the app and sell it to a non-Chinese company by January 19th.
It makes it illegal for anyone to “distribute, maintain, or update” the app in the U.S., and threatens hefty fines of up to $5,000 per user for anyone who breaks the law.
This means that no one who has already downloaded TikTok would be immediately affected, but app stores in the US would no longer be allowed to offer TikTok and users would not be able to get upgrades or newer versions of the app.
Congress passed the law last year with strong bipartisan support in both the House and Senate before President Joe Biden signed it into law.
The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that would lead to a nationwide ban on TikTok if Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell it. However, the bill is likely to face an obstacle in the Senate.
What will the Supreme Court case depend on?
The case amounts to a conflict between two fundamental principles of U.S. law: the First Amendment’s right to free speech and the government’s authority to decide on national security concerns, said Gus Hurwitz, academic director of the Center for Technology, Innovation and Competition the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School in Philadelphia.
Hurwitz said ByteDance’s position is that the intended effect of the law is to prevent the company from speaking to Americans.
“The company is making a pretty direct, First Amendment-style argument here that it is a speech platform and that in many ways it is no different than a newspaper, a magazine or any other website,” Hurwitz said in an interview with CBC News.
Freddy Tran Nager, associate director of the digital social media program at the University of Southern California, Annenberg, said ByteDance’s argument was “somewhat tenuous.”
“This legislation does not ban TikTok based on its content,” Nager said in an interview. “The concerns are about privacy, particularly the data of American citizens.”
Can the US legally force a change of ownership of TikTok?
The U.S. has a long history of restricting foreign ownership of broadcast outlets such as radio stations and television networks, but restricting ownership of a social media platform is new territory.
Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, DC, called the law unprecedented.
“Banning an entire speech platform in the United States is a violation of the Constitution of the highest order,” Ruane said in an interview.
“It prevents 170 million TikTok users from using their medium of choice for online communication in a way that has nothing to do with the government’s stated concerns,” she said.
The ban could be averted if ByteDance begins negotiations to sell the app to a non-Chinese owner, but the company has given no indication that this is happening.
TikTok is suing the US government over a law that would ban the Chinese app unless it is sold to another company. Andrew Chang breaks down TikTok’s legal arguments and explains why they claim his First Amendment rights are violated.
What is the timeline for a decision?
The Supreme Court agreed to expedite the hearing of the case as the law was set to take effect on January 19.
“I assume that we will receive an answer very quickly if the court sides with TikTok,” Hurwitz said, probably next week. “Unless an injunction is issued immediately… I would interpret this silence to mean almost certainly that the court will rule against TikTok.”
What happens when Donald Trump takes office?
Trump’s inauguration will take place on January 20, a day after the ban is scheduled to take effect. After advocating a ban on TikTok during his first term, he has changed his tune. Trump now wants the law stopped, and his lawyers have filed a lawsuit “Friend of the Court” brief. on his behalf before Friday’s hearing.
“President Trump opposes a ban on TikTok in the United States at this time and seeks the opportunity to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office,” the letter said.
Nager said he suspects the new Trump administration “would like to have TikTok as part of a larger negotiating package (with China), whether on tariffs or other imports or other military deals.”
Trump could issue an executive order delaying enforcement of the law, Hurwitz said, but added that in the long run it was unlikely that the new president would expend political capital to get the law repealed with so many Republican lawmakers decidedly against the Chinese owning the app.
Would Canada be affected?
The ban on the distribution of TikTok only applies to companies in the USA
Separately, the federal government ordered TikTok to cease operations in Canada in November, but did not restrict the app’s availability.
