US Supreme Court to hear TikTok’s case against law that would ban it

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

The justices will hear arguments January 10 about whether the law impermissibly restricts freedom of speech in violation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

The law, enacted by federal lawmakers in April, set a January 19 deadline for TikTok to be sold or else face a ban.

The popular social media platform has more than 170 million users in the US alone.

It’s unclear how quickly the US’ highest court might issue a decision.

Lawyers for the company and China-based owners ByteDance had urged the justices to step in before January 19.

The 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 outgoing Democratic president Joe Biden in April.

The incoming Republican 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.

Free speech vs national security

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 US and significant advertising revenue.

The case pits free speech rights against the government’s stated aims of protecting national security, while raising novel issues about social media platforms.

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

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

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It would be up to the Justice Department to enforce the law, investigating possible violations, and seeking sanctions.

But lawyers for TikTok and ByteDance have argued that Trump’s Justice Department might pause enforcement or otherwise seek to mitigate the law’s most severe consequences.

Trump takes office a day after the law is supposed to go into effect.