The US Supreme Court today upheld as constitutional a law that would ban short video service TikTok from operating in the US from January 19 if parent Chinese company ByteDance refuses to sell it. The court ruled that the bill had “valid content-neutral rationale,” raising concerns about China’s ability to collect vast amounts of data on US citizens through the TikTok platform.
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«There is no doubt that for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a vast channel for user expression and interaction,” the court’s decision said. “But Congress has determined that blocking or sale is necessary to address well-founded national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relations with a foreign adversary.”
The US Supreme Court decision means TikTok will be blocked in the US on January 19 unless that deadline is extended by outgoing President Joe Biden or ByteDance sells the company. However, a Biden representative had previously said that the head of the White House would leave the fate of the social network in the hands of President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump is considering, upon taking office, issuing an executive order that would suspend the law on the forced sale of TikTok for a period of 60 to 90 days, threatening to block the platform in the United States. This will allow his administration to negotiate or find a temporary solution – otherwise the social network could be blocked as early as next Sunday.
Experts doubt that Trump will be able to save TikTok since he has not yet been sworn in. The uncertainty of the situation could play a cruel joke on service providers such as Apple, Google and Oracle if they continue to provide resources to TikTok after the technical ban takes effect.
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Some potential buyers are waiting for the ban to take effect, counting on concessions from ByteDance in the sale. For example, Project Liberty of billionaire Frank McCourt wants to buy an application without an algorithm and transfer it to its own social network protocol. But it is not yet clear whether China will allow the sale, even in such a reduced version. Chinese officials are rumored to be toying with the idea of persuading Elon Musk to act as a buyer or intermediary for a potential deal.
In the case under consideration, the parties pitted freedom of speech against national security issues. TikTok’s lawyers and a group of bloggers from the platform argue that the ban would violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution. The US government insists that the law on blocking the social network, passed by an overwhelming majority of Congress and signed by the US President, is extremely important for national security.
The judges noted that their decision should be understood as narrowly focused, given that the case involved “new technologies with transformative potential.” “TikTok’s scale and vulnerability to control by foreign adversaries, as well as the massive amounts of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the government’s national security concerns. A law directed against any other speaker would necessarily entail a separate investigation and separate considerations,” the Supreme Court spokesperson said.