In a unanimous decision Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block a federal law that could ban TikTok in the United States if the app fails to divest from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, by Sunday. The ruling injects significant uncertainty into the future of the video-sharing platform, which boasts over 170 million U.S. users.
According to The Washington Post, the decision represents a major blow for TikTok, as the deadline for compliance looms just a day before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Trump has vowed to “save” TikTok, but the court’s decision leaves little room for immediate action.
“Why would I want to get rid of TikTok?” on Truth Social, posting a graphic that showed his popularity on the platform.
The justices, in a 20-page opinion, determined that the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act does not violate the free speech rights of TikTok users.
The court wrote that TikTok’s scale and its susceptibility to foreign influence justified differential treatment under the law. While acknowledging TikTok’s role as a platform for expression and community, the opinion emphasized the government’s responsibility to address security risks.
“As Justice Frankfurter advised 80 years ago in considering the application of established legal rules to the ‘totally new problems’ raised by the airplane and radio, we should take care not to ‘embarrass the future.’ Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Minnesota, 322 U. S. 292, 300 (1944). That caution is heightened in these cases, given the expedited time allowed for our consideration,” the opinion stated.
The law, signed by President Joe Biden last year with bipartisan support, aims to address national security concerns related to the Chinese government’s potential influence over TikTok and its extensive data collection practices.
Free speech advocates criticized the ruling, with Jameel Jaffer of the Knight First Amendment Institute describing it as a weakening of First Amendment protections.
The Road Ahead
Despite the ruling, President-elect Trump has suggested using an executive order to delay enforcement of the law, potentially buying time for the platform. Legal experts, however, have questioned whether such an order could override a law passed by Congress.
In a phone interview with CNN on Friday, Trump remained vague about his plans following the Supreme Court’s decision regarding TikTok. “It ultimately goes up to me, so you’re going to see what I’m going to do,” Trump stated. “Congress has given me the decision, so I’ll be making the decision.”
According to Forbes, Trump later addressed the ruling on Truth Social, emphasizing the need to “respect” the court’s decision while noting that his “decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation.”