TheMK sport US Supreme Court has begun hearing two-hour oral arguments at around 10 am (US time) on Friday regarding the future of TikTok in the US, an audio livestreaming on the court’s website showed. In the next two hours, the court will be hearing arguments from TikTok and the US Justice Department on whether a proposed ban on the popular short video platform violates the First Amendment which protects the freedom of speech, according to the schedule released by the court.
The argument was held just days before the January 19 deadline set by a federal law, which could potentially shut down TikTok for its more than 170 million monthly US users. January 19 is also one day before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.
It is expected that the court will make a decision regarding the ban after the oral argument, and before the January 19 deadline, according to a report by Chinese media outlet caijing.com, citing a lawyer. It also signals that the oral hearing at the US Supreme Court could represent a critical moment for TikTok’s business in the US, according to the report.
On December 6, a US federal court upheld a law requiring ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to divest the app in the US by January 19, 2025 or face a ban, the Reuters reported.
Following the decision, TikTok on December 16 requested an injunction from the Supreme Court that would block the ban against it “until the conservative majority court rules on TikTok’s legality or dismisses the case,” the Forbes reported. The US Supreme Court on December 18, only two days after TikTok’s petition, agreed to review the request and decide to hear arguments on January 10, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
According to the legal filing TikTok submitted to the US top court seen by the Global Times, it argues that the ban is a “constitutional violation” as it violates the First Amendment. “The act will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration. This, in turn, will silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern,” the platform noted.
Trump in late December also urged the US Supreme Court to pause implementation of a law that would ban TikTok or force its sale, claiming that he should have time after taking office to pursue a “political resolution” to the issue, according to a Reuters report.
In April, US President Joe Biden enacted the law that gives ByteDance only 270 days to sell TikTok, citing unfounded national security concerns, according to the Xinhua report. If the company fails to comply, the law will require app store operators such as Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their platforms.
TikTok asked the US Supreme Court to block the law, arguing that it will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration, and "silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern," according to a Xinhua report.
China’s Foreign Ministry said in March that the proposed TikTok ban puts the US on the opposite side of the principle of fair competition and international economic and trade rules.
“If so-called ‘national security’ reasons can be used to arbitrarily suppress other countries’ outstanding companies, then there is no fairness or justice left. When one sees something good from others, the goal should not be to seize it for oneself — this is entirely a robber’s logic,” the ministry said. It stressed that the way the US handles the TikTok issue will make the world see more clearly whether the so-called “rules” and “order” of the US are truly beneficial to the world or only serve the interests of the US itself.
Global Times
