TikTok Asks Supreme Court to Block Law That Could Ban App in the US
TikTok has asked the Supreme Court to block a law that could effectively ban the popular social media app in the United States by January 19. The law, known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, requires ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, to sell the app or force Google and Apple to stop supporting it on their platforms in the US.
The request comes three days after the US Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. refused to delay the effect of its ruling upholding the law, citing national security concerns raised by members of Congress who backed the law.
In its filing with the Supreme Court, TikTok’s lawyers argued that the law is a massive and unprecedented speech restriction, and that the company is one of the nation’s most popular and important venues for communication. They also argued that there is a strong public interest in having the Supreme Court review the appeals court ruling upholding the law.
The company claimed that if the law is allowed to stand, it will shut down one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration, silencing the speech of millions of Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern.
TikTok also warned that if the app is banned, small businesses that use the app will lose more than $1 billion in revenue in just one month, and creators will lose nearly $300 million in earnings in one month.
President-elect Donald Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday. Trump had previously attempted to ban the app during his first term in the White House, but opposed the law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden.
