It feels like tick … tick … tick for TikTok. As in, time is running out.
TikTok had its day in the Supreme Court on Friday and the feeling is the court appears likely to uphold the ban on the social media app. Unless the Supreme Court rules otherwise, TikTok must divest from its Chinese owner, ByteDance, by Jan. 19 or, essentially, be banned in the U.S.
The U.S. government fears the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over data that would compromise U.S. users. TikTok has said it has not shared U.S. data with the Chinese government and would never do so.
So TikTok took its case to the Supreme Court on Friday and, from the sound of things, the court seems to be leaning away from TikTok. Why? The justices appeared to be concerned about national security.
The Washington Post’s Ann E. Marimow wrote, “A majority of justices from across the ideological spectrum suggested during more than 2½ hours of oral arguments that the government’s interest in national security justified some restrictions on free speech. They particularly seemed to embrace Congress’s concern about the Chinese government covertly using the app to collect vast amounts of sensitive data about millions of American users and potentially exploiting that information to blackmail young Americans or turn them into spies.”
During the arguments, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said, “Just on the data collection, that seems like a huge concern for the future of the country.”
Chief Justice John Roberts asked at one point, “Are we supposed to ignore the fact that the ultimate parent is, in fact, subject to doing intelligence work for the Chinese government?”
TikTok is arguing that this is a First Amendment issue.
Marimow wrote, “While the justices acknowledged the serious free speech issues if the platform goes dark this month, several emphasized that foreign entities do not have First Amendment rights and that the site could continue to operate in a similar manner, but under different, non-Chinese ownership.”
If the Supreme Court rules against TikTok, ByteDance will have to sell TikTok to an approved buyer or digital stores such as Google and Apple would have to remove TikTok from their app stores. Users who already have TikTok will continue to have access to it, but will no longer be able to receive updates.
Normally, the Supreme Court can deliberate for months before handing down a decision, but because of the Jan. 19 deadline, a ruling could come down in the next few days. TikTok also wouldn’t mind if the ruling came after Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Trump has appeared sympathetic to TikTok since the election.
NBC News’ Kat Tenbarge wrote, “One of Trump’s options would be to grant a 90-day extension for TikTok to continue its effort to find an American buyer — a provision specifically written into the law forcing a sale. However, TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance said it will not approve a sale of the app. If ByteDance were to approve a sale, there are U.S. buyers willing to purchase TikTok, including billionaire business executive Frank McCourt.”
Here’s more food for thought from The Washington Post’s Shira Ovide: “What if they ban TikTok and people keep using it anyway?”
