TikTok is asking the US Supreme Court for an emergency injunction that would stop a possible US ban of the popular social media platform from going into effect until that court can consider its case.
TikTok filed for the injunction with the nation’s highest court on Monday after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied both its request to overturn the law and a motion for it to issue its own emergency injunction pending Supreme Court consideration.
In its Supreme Court filing, TikTok argued that allowing the law — which would ban the app if it’s not sold to a party deemed fit by US officials by Jan. 19 — to go into effect would infringe on the rights of TikTok’s millions of US users.
“TikTok is asking the Court to do what it has traditionally done in free speech cases: Apply the most rigorous scrutiny to speech bans and conclude that (the ban) violates the First Amendment,” TikTok said in a Monday statement.
It added that the ban would result in the “massive and unprecedented censorship of over 170 million Americans.”
In its rulings earlier this month, the appeals court rejected that same argument, acknowledging that while the ban would require TikTok’s millions of users “to find alternative media of communication,” it’s justified by the “hybrid commercial threat” China poses to US national security.
“The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” Senior Circuit Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote in the ruling. “Here, the government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.”
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Lawmakers in both political parties have long voiced concerns that TikTok, which has more than 170 million American users, could be a threat to national security and could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans or spread disinformation to further China’s agenda.
TikTok continues to deny those accusations. Ahead of votes in Congress earlier this year, TikTok rallied its US users, calling on them to urge their representatives on Capitol Hill to vote it down. But the measure ultimately passed by wide margins in both chambers of Congress and was signed by President Joe Biden.
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It’s unclear whether the Supreme Court will grant the injunction request or take up TikTok’s appeal, but the company also could get help from the incoming Trump administration. President-elect Donald Trump, who had pushed for a ban during his first term, now says he’s no longer in favor of one.
Unless the Supreme Court takes action, the ban could go into effect as soon as Jan. 19, the day before Trump is set to be inaugurated.
So what’s next for lawmakers and TikTok? Here’s what you need to know.
What does the law do?
The law is aimed at forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok to a buyer that American officials are OK with, as well as guaranteeing that ByteDance no longer has access to US user data or control over the TikTok algorithm that decides what videos American users see.
TikTok was given nine months to comply, hence the Jan. 19 deadline, at which point the government could require the removal of its app from US app stores. The president could grant a 90-day extension.
Biden, who signed the bill that established those requirements, remains in office until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20.
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What’s next?
After originally calling for a ban during his first presidency, Trump now says he’s not in favor of one and has pledged to “save TikTok,” though he hasn’t specified how he will do that.
During a Monday press conference, Trump pointed to the roll TikTok played during the election, crediting it with helping him pick up the votes of young people.
“TikTok had an impact, and so we’re taking a look at it,” Trump told the press. “I have a little bit of a warm spot in my heart. I’ll be honest.”
Trump said in March on CNBC’s Squawk Box that though he still viewed the app as a danger to national security, he no longer thought it should be banned, saying, “There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it.”
Trump added that banning TikTok would only boost the power of Facebook, which he referred to as an “enemy of the people.”
In September, Trump pledged to “save TikTok,” according to an Associated Press report. But during an interview that aired Sunday on Meet the Press, Trump didn’t directly say if or how he would help TikTok avoid a ban.
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Who has opposed the TikTok ban?
Free speech and digital rights groups, as well as some security experts, have long opposed the idea of a ban, saying that singling out TikTok doesn’t do anything to solve the broader problems with social media as a whole.
Instead they argue that lawmakers would be better off passing comprehensive digital privacy laws that would protect the personal information of Americans by stopping all social media companies from collecting it and selling it to data brokers.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation expressed disappointment in the appeals court’s original ruling, saying it relies heavily on speculation about possible future harms. “Restricting the free flow of information, even from foreign adversaries, is fundamentally undemocratic,” David Greene, the EFF’s civil liberties director, said in a statement.
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