SUPREME COURT CONCLUDES TIKTOK BAN HEARING

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today (1/10) amid the impending implementation of a law banning TikTok in the U.S. unless it's sold to a non-Chinese company.

The law is scheduled to take effect 1/19, a day before Donald Trump returns to the White House. The court is expected to rule quickly, with observers believing it's likely it will uphold the ruling.

The Biden administration opposes any delay in enacting the law, calling TikTok a danger to national security due to the Chinese government’s alleged involvement with parent company ByteDance. "It's about trying to close off a vulnerability that a foreign nation adversary could exploit," argued U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar.

Pressed on whether the rights of TikTok users would be infringed by passage of the law, Prelogar said this would only be the case if they, in fact, even have the First Amendment right to "post on a platform that's controlled by a foreign adversary that could use that access to threaten our nation's security," adding, "I don't think there's a First Amendment right to do that."

She continued, “Americans are on this platform thinking that they are speaking to one another. What is covert is that the [People's Republic of China], a foreign adversary nation, is instead exploiting the vulnerability of the system to suppress and silence people.”

Arguing against the divestment of TikTok by ByteDance, the former's attorney Noel Francisco told the court, “I think that any new TikTok would be a fundamentally different platform with different content," which strikes at the heart of its free-speech argument. "We haven't removed or restricted content at the request of China," he maintained earlier in the hearing.

Last week, Trump's attorney said the President-elect is taking no position on the underlying merits of this dispute. Instead, he requested that the court consider staying the act’s deadline for divestment, thus giving the incoming administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution.

Trump himself tried to ban TikTok in 2020 on national-security grounds but was blocked by the court. He now says he has "a warm spot" for the app.