Open the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what the 2024 US elections mean for Washington and the world
US Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical about TikTok's efforts to overturn a federal “take down or ban” law on Friday, as the social media platform warned it could “go dark” in one of its largest markets within nine days.
Friday's oral arguments focused on whether to allow a law that would force TikTok's Chinese parent to… ByteDance to liquidate the platform by January 19 — the day before Donald Trump is inaugurated as president — or face a nationwide ban.
The legislation, which passed with strong bipartisan support last year, was motivated by concerns that Beijing could use the video platform, which has grown in popularity among teens and now has 170 million American users, for espionage purposes or to spread propaganda.
Tik Tok He denied the accusations and claimed that the law violated First Amendment protections for free speech. Meanwhile, Trump promised to “save the application” and implored the Supreme Court to delay the legislative deadline to allow “the opportunity to follow through.” Political decision Questions in the case” when he returns to the White House later this month.
Either way, the court's decision will have wide-ranging consequences for freedom of expression in the United States, as well as global relations with China.
During oral arguments on Friday, justices from across the ideological spectrum repeatedly challenged TikTok's arguments that the law was an assault on free speech, focusing instead on concerns that the platform is being used for other purposes. “Hidden manipulation” Its data is vulnerable to being harvested by Beijing.
TikTok's lawyer, Noel Francisco of Jones Day, said the law singles out the company for “uniquely harsh treatment, and it does so because the government fears that China will, in the future, be able to indirectly pressure TikTok.”
Chief Justice John Roberts, a member of the court's conservative wing, responded: “Are we then supposed to ignore the fact that the ultimate parent is in fact subject to conducting intelligence work for the Chinese government?”
Justice Elena Kagan, part of the court's liberal wing, acknowledged that the company “will suffer some (but) severe spillover effects.” If TikTok eventually loses access to ByteDance's algorithm as a result of the divestiture, the law still “leaves TikTok the ability to do what any other actor in the United States would do, which is find the best algorithm available,” she said.
Elizabeth Prelogar, the US Attorney General, emphasized the government's national security argument. She said Beijing's efforts to undermine the United States by collecting “sensitive data” on Americans and its ability to force companies to hand over such materials “means the Chinese government could use TikTok as a weapon at any time to harm the United States.”
she said ByteDance It has already responded to Beijing's demands, claiming there is evidence that it has “taken measures to misappropriate data…”. . . To track down dissidents in Hong Kong (and) Uyghurs in China.”
ByteDance also “misappropriated US data” when it admitted to improperly obtaining the data of US journalists, including Financial Times correspondentShe added.
TikTok argued that a spin-off would be “technically not possible” before the deadline. Beijing, which will have a say, according to China's export laws, said it opposed the sale and called the law a “blatant act of commercial robbery.” Francisco, TikTok's lawyer, emphasized that point on Friday, saying divestment would be “extremely difficult under any time frame.”
When asked what would happen on January 19 if the company lost the case, Francisco replied: “As I understand it, we will remain in the dark.”
The court is expected to issue its ruling before the January 19 deadline, which could seal the fate of a major source of entertainment and news for young people, which has provided livelihoods for thousands of influencers, as well as attracting top advertising dollars.
Even if the court rules against TikTok, it is possible that Trump will intervene once in power, though it is unclear how. The president-elect's surprise video app rescue mission came in part after he used the platform during last year's election campaign to connect with young voters.
It also comes as Trump said he wanted to maintain “competition” in a market dominated by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta site, after criticizing the US social media network as an “enemy of the people” over its alleged censorship of conservative content.
