Supreme Court To Hear Arguments In TikTok Divest Or Ban Appeal

The fate of TikTok in the United State will be heard in the US Supreme Court on Friday, days ahead of its divest or ban deadline.

Last month a lower US appeals court had rejected TikTok’s effort to overturn the law that would force it to divest its business in the country or face a ban.

TikTok however took its appeal to the US Supreme Court, after previously warning that the US ban would have ‘staggering’ effects.

Meanwhile earlier this week, American billionaire Frank McCourt’s internet advocacy non-profit Project Liberty and a consortium of partners announced a formal proposal (dubbed the ‘People’s Bid’) to buy the social media platform from Chinese owner ByteDance.

Supreme Court hearing

On 24 April 2024, US President Joe Biden almost immediately had signed the bill that gave ByteDance up to a year to divest TikTok, or face a nationwide ban across the United States. He signed it just a day or so after it was overwhelmingly passed in the House and US Senate.

It came two years after President Biden had banned TikTok on federal government phones and laptops. A majority of US states have also banned the app on state-owned devices.

ByteDance therefore is facing a divest deadline for TikTok by 19 January 2025, under the law which is known as the ‘Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.’

While ByteDance has the option to divest, it has claimed in a legal filing that divestiture “is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally”.

The Guardian reported that oral arguments at the Supreme Court are expected to last two hours, during which each side will be allotted time to make their case. In a filing, the court wrote that both sides should be prepared to argue whether the ban violates the first amendment.

Future in America

TikTok has 170 million users American, about half of the country’s population.

The Justice Department has previously stated that the app poses a national security risk as it allows the Chinese government to collect the data of Americans and determine what is shown to them.

American lawmakers have said they are seeking a change of ownership, not a ban, but TikTok and ByteDance have said the law amounts to a ban because divestment is not legally or technically possible.

Last month two US senators (Democratic senators Ed Markey and Republican Rand Paul) had asked president Joe Biden to extend by 90 days the 19 January deadline.

TikTok owner ByteDance is based in China, but TikTok itself operates separately with headquarters in Singapore and the US.

TikTok has always maintained it isn’t under Chinese influence and that user data in the US is handled by American software giant Oracle.