Unless the well-known social media platform is acquired by its parent business located in China, the US Supreme Court on Friday appeared likely to uphold a statute that would ban TikTok in the US starting on January 19, reports Breaking News.
The justices appeared convinced by arguments that the national security threat posed by the company’s ties to China outweighs concerns about limiting the speech of TikTok or its 170 million US users during the hearing of arguments in a historic conflict between free speech and national security concerns.
Chief Justice John Roberts stated early in arguments that lasted over two and a half hours that the ownership of TikTok by China-based ByteDance and the parent company’s obligation to cooperate with the Chinese government’s intelligence activities was the “main concern” in the case, reports Breaking News.
On behalf of TikTok, attorney Noel Francisco informed the justices that if the statute signed by President Joe Biden in April and supported by bipartisan majorities in Congress is upheld, the company will have to “go dark” on January 19.
Mr. Francisco urged the justices to at least temporarily halt the case so that TikTok could continue to operate, reports Breaking News.
He stated that after President-elect Donald Trump assumes office on January 20, “we might be in a different world again.” In order to allow himself more time to negotiate a “political resolution,” Mr. Trump, who has 14.7 million TikTok followers, has also urged for the deadline to be extended.
However, it remained unclear if any justices would choose this path. The only person who seemed inclined to agree with TikTok that the prohibition is unconstitutional was Justice Neil Gorsuch, reports Breaking News.
The Biden administration’s justification of the legislation was characterised by Mr. Gorsuch as a “paternalistic point of view.” He said that TikTok has promised to publish a warning that the Chinese government may influence the material.
He posed the question to Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who defended the statute for the Biden administration: “Don’t we typically assume that the best remedy for problematic speech is counter speech?,” reports Breaking News.
According to Ms. Prelogar, a warning alone would not be sufficient to stop the dissemination of false information.
However, every other court questioned Francisco and attorney Jeffrey Fisher, who represented TikTok users and content creators, with far greater scepticism, reports Breaking News.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh addressed US concerns with China’s access to data on tens of millions of Americans, particularly teens and young adults in their 20s, who are particularly fond of TikTok.
“That seems like a huge concern for the future of the country,” said Mr Kavanaugh, whose daughters are in that age range, reports Breaking News.
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