Supreme Court Will Hear Arguments Over The Law That Could Ban TikTok

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On Wednesday, The Supreme Court said it will hear arguments next month over the constitutionality of the federal law that could ban TikTok in the United States if its Chinese parent company doesn’t sell it.

The justices will hear arguments on Jan. 10 about whether the law impermissibly restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment. The law, enacted in April, set a Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok to be sold or else face a ban in the United States. The popular social media platform has more than 170 million users in the U.S.

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It’s unclear how quickly The Supreme Court may issue a decision. Lawyers for the company and China-based ByteDance had urged the justices to intervene before Jan. 19. The high court also will hear arguments from content creators who rely on the platform for income and some TikTok users.

The timing of the arguments means that the outgoing Biden administration’s Justice Department will make the case in defense of the law that passed Congress with bipartisan support and was signed by President Joe Biden in April.

The incoming Trump Administration might not have the same view of the law. President-elect Donald Trump, who once supported a ban but then pledged during the campaign to “save TikTok,” has said his administration would take a look at the situation. Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Monday.

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The companies have said that a shutdown lasting just a month would cause TikTok to lose about one-third of its daily users in the U.S. and significant advertising revenue.

A panel of federal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the law on Dec. 6, then denied an emergency plea to delay the law’s implementation.

Without court action, the law would take effect on Jan. 19 and expose app stores that offer TikTok and internet hosting services that support it to potential fines.

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