U.S. SC upholds TikTok ban ahead of looming deadline

U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that would force ByteDance to sell TikTok to an American company or the popular app would face a ban starting on Sunday, one day before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.

"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," the court's ruling said.

"We conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners' First Amendment rights," the court said, adding that the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is affirmed.

The court was referring to a judgement in December, when the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. dismissed TikTok's claim that the ban is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment rights of the 170 million U.S. users.

TikTok then asked the Supreme Court to block the law, arguing that it will shutter one of America's most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration, and "silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern."

In April 2024, U.S. President Joe Biden enacted the law that gives ByteDance only 270 days to sell TikTok, citing unfounded national security concerns. If the company fails to comply, the law will require app store operators such as Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their platforms starting on Jan. 19, 2025.

The law has drawn widespread criticism. Gary Clyde Hufbauer, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, wrote in an article in September that as with Huawei, "no evidence was disclosed" by U.S. authorities that TikTok accounts are subject to actual surveillance or that the platform serves as a channel for "Chinese propaganda."

Despite the Supreme Court's ruling, Biden is unlikely to enforce a ban on TikTok, leaving the decision to the incoming Donald Trump administration, according to U.S. media reports on Thursday citing White House officials.

Trump recently urged the Supreme Court to delay the TikTok ban to allow time for a negotiated solution.

The incoming president's National Security Adviser pick Mike Waltz told Fox News on Thursday that the incoming administration will work on a deal to keep the "fantastic platform" in place for Americans while protecting their data.

As the ban's effective date approaches, a large number of U.S. TikTok users have flocked to the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book, or RedNote) this week to express their dissatisfaction with the U.S. government.

These Americans, who call themselves "TikTok refugees," are engaging enthusiastically with Chinese users, sharing photos of cats and dogs, and asking about each other's daily lives.

Meanwhile, in direct reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to uphold the ban against TikTok, the company's CEO Shou Zi Chew said on Friday that "we will do everything in our power to ensure our platform thrives" for the years to come.

In a video lasting about one and a half minutes, which titled "Our response to the Supreme Court decision," Chew discussed the Supreme Court's decision and how it will affect more than 170 million American users.

Chew noted that the company and its users "have been fighting to protect the constitutional right to free speech for the more than 170 million Americans" who use the popular platform every day.

He then noted U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's commitment to working with TikTok to find a solution that keeps the app available in the United States.

"We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform -- one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process," Chew said.

He also thanked American users for making the TikTok community a rich and vibrant space, adding the company will do everything possible to ensure that the platform thrives as a home for creativity and discovery.