Supreme Court will hear arguments over the law that could ban TikTok in the US if it’s not sold

Supreme Court will hear arguments over the law that could ban TikTok in the US if it’s not sold

Supreme Court will hear arguments over the law that could ban TikTok in the US if it's not sold

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hear arguments next month over the constitutionality of the federal law that could ban TikTok in the United States if its Chinese parent company doesn’t sell it.

The justices will hear arguments Jan. 10 about whether the law impermissibly restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment.

The law, enacted in April, set a Jan. 19 deadline for TikTok to be sold or else face a ban in the United States. The popular social media platform has more than 170 million users in the U.S.

It’s unclear how quickly a decision might come. But the high court still could act after the arguments to keep the law from taking effect pending a final ruling, if at least five of the nine justices think it’s unconstitutional.

“This could be a major case just in terms of what it says of either Congress’ power to regulate what free speech rights are and whose free speech rights matter,” said University of St. Thomas School of Law professor David Schultz, who teaches constitutional law.

He explained any decision could set a precedent.

“If the court rules against TikTok, I think some people are fearing if they can close down one social media platform, could they close down another one?” said Schultz.

A ruling that allows the platform to keep operating would also be significant.

“It would be a major precedent both in terms of the power of Congress to regulate foreign corporations and, two, it would probably be viewed as a major, major victory of First Amendment rights,” said Schultz.

Lawyers for the company and China-based ByteDance had urged the justices to step in before Jan. 19. The high court also will hear arguments from content creators who rely on the platform for income and some TikTok users.

A passion for family history turned into a full-time career for Jen Shaffer, who has a background in HR and payroll. She’s known as The Formidable Genealogist on social media.

“It’s fascinating every single day,” she said. “It is exciting because you get to dig into people’s family histories, find the skeletons in the closet and answer things they’ve wondered about their whole lives.”

She shares her knowledge and techniques on TikTok.

“I was trying Facebook and Instagram and even paid ads and I was not getting clients,” said Shaffer. “Now that I’ve been doing this on TikTok for the past few years, I have a wait list of 150 people so I am booked out probably a year.”

Her clients range in age from 18 years old to people in their 90’s. She feels there’s a misconception that the platform is used primarily by young people who are making dancing videos. It’s an important tool supporting small businesses, according to Shaffer.

Shaffer went to Washington last April to encourage members of Minnesota’s Congressional delegation to vote against the law that required ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban.

She’s hopeful the Supreme Court will rule in favor of users.

“I really hope to see some minds changed and see if both sides can be heard more so than they were before,” said Shaffer.

Diamond Ezeli, owner of Midas Touch Head Spa in White Bear Lake, also hopes the Supreme Court listens to content creators.

“You reach a lot more people through TikTok than any other social media platform,” said Ezeli, who explained she developed the idea to open her business after being exposed to similar spas through the app.

Now, she credits it with a significant portion of her clients.

“I ask ‘How did you hear about me?’ and it’s always ‘TikTok’,” said Ezeli. “Ninety percent of the people that come to me are finding me through TikTok.”

She’s encouraged that the Supreme Court is now considering the issue.

“A lot of content creators, that’s where their money is coming from,” said Ezeli. “So if TikTok gets taken away, there will be lots of Americans that will not have a way to feed their families.”

The timing of the arguments means that the outgoing Biden administration’s Justice Department will make the case in defense of the law that passed Congress with bipartisan support and was signed by Democratic President Joe Biden in April.

The incoming Republican administration might not have the same view of the law.

President-elect Donald Trump, who once supported a ban but then pledged during the campaign to “save TikTok,” has said his administration would take a look at the situation. Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Monday.

The companies have said that a shutdown lasting just a month would cause TikTok to lose about one-third of its daily users in the U.S. and significant advertising revenue.

The case pits free speech rights against the government’s stated aims of protecting national security, while raising novel issues about social media platforms.

“We believe the Court will find the TikTok ban unconstitutional so the over 170 million Americans on our platform can continue to exercise their free speech rights,” TikTok spokesman Michael Hughes said in a statement.

Free-speech advocates also praised the court’s decision to step in.

The government should not be able to restrict speech “without proving with evidence that the tools are presently seriously harmful. But in this case, Congress has required and the DC Circuit approved TikTok’s forced divestiture based only upon fears of future potential harm. This greatly lowers well-established standards for restricting freedom of speech in the U.S.,” David Greene, a lawyer with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in a statement.

A panel of federal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the law on Dec. 6, then denied an emergency plea to delay the law’s implementation.

Without court action, the law would take effect Jan. 19 and expose app stores that offer TikTok and internet hosting services that support it to potential fines.

It would be up to the Justice Department to enforce the law, investigating possible violations and seeking sanctions. But lawyers for TikTok and ByteDance have argued that Trump’s Justice Department might pause enforcement or otherwise seek to mitigate the law’s most severe consequences. Trump takes office a day after the law is supposed to go into effect.

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