TikTok’s ban upheld by the Supreme Court is unaffected by First Amendment claims

The US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that could pave the way for the banning of TikTok in the US to take effect from Sunday.

The law, signed by President Joe Biden last year, would effectively ban the app in the US if TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, does not sell it to a buyer deemed suitable by US officials by January 19. TikTok sued the law, claiming it violated First Amendment free speech guarantees for the company and TikTok’s 170 million US users.

The judges were not convinced by this argument. In his decision, the Supreme Court announced that while TikTok is a “distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, a vehicle for engagement, and a source of community,” Congress decided the sale was necessary to “address its well-regarded national security concerns regarding TikTok’s practices for data collection and connection with a foreign adversary’.

“For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights,” the court said.

TikTok did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the court’s ruling would allow the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from “weaponizing TikTok to undermine America’s national security.”

“Authoritarian regimes should not have unfettered access to the sensitive data of millions of Americans,” Garland said in a Justice Department statement.

Lawyers for TikTok and the US government pleaded their cases in oral arguments before the court late last week, pitting First Amendment concerns against national security concerns. Based on the questions and comments made by the justices during the more than two-hour hearing, it appears they are more likely to agree with the government’s argument that the case is not about free speech, but instead about the dangers , which represent from foreign adversaries, in this case China.

Read more: Downloads, Trump and VPNs: Everything you need to know about TikTok’s potential ban

Lawmakers from both political parties have long raised concerns that TikTok could be a national security threat and could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans or spread disinformation to support China’s agenda.

TikTok continues to deny these allegations. Before the congressional vote last year, TikTok has gathered its users in the USurging them to urge their representatives on Capitol Hill to vote against the ban. But in the end, the measure passed by wide margins in both houses of Congress.

It remains unclear what will happen to TikTok both in the next few days and in the long term.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in the Justice Department’s statement that the next phase of the department’s efforts to sever TikTok’s ties to China, which will include implementing and enforcing the law after it takes effect Sunday, “will be a process that will take time.”

On Thursday, a A Biden administration official said ABC News that the White House does not plan to implement the law in the remaining days before Donald Trump is sworn in as president on Monday, January 20.

Trump, who pushed for a ban during his first term, now says he no longer favors one. In late December, Trump’s lawyers filed an amicus brief in this case. They did not take sides, instead asking the court to delay the ban to give Trump time to come up with a “political resolution.”