TikTok asks Supreme Court to block potential ban

TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, asked the U.S. Supreme Court, on Monday, to intervene in its impending nationwide ban by blocking the law that would remove the app from millions of users.

In its filing, the popular social media app alleged that banning the app would “shutter” one of the most popular speech platforms at a highly political moment on January 19, just one day before Donald Trump is set to be inaugurated.

“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,” TikTok wrote.

At issue is a bipartisan law called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which is supposed to protect national security.

The law requires ByteDance to sell the social media platform to an American company or be banned.

Already, TikTok has failed to delay the law from taking effect. Last week, they asked Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to delay the law, giving them for more time to make their case to the Supreme Court.

However, the appeals court upheld the law.

The companies had warned that without court action, the law will “shut down TikTok”, one of the nation’s most popular apps with more than 170 million domestic monthly users.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Under the law, the government has sweeping powers to ban other foreign-owned apps that could raise concerns about collection of Americans’ data.

The Justice Department argues, “continued Chinese control of the TikTok application poses a continuing threat to national security.”

TikTok says the Justice Department has misstated the social media app’s ties to China, arguing its content recommendation engine and user data are stored in the U.S. on cloud servers operated by Oracle while content moderation decisions that affect US users are made in the US.

If the Supreme Court decides to temporarily block the law, it would allow justices to take up the case and decide if the law is constitutional. They could also ask a lower court to re-consider its decision.

But if justices reject the emergency application, the law will go into effect.

The would put TikTok’s fate first in the hands of President Joe Biden on whether to grant a 90-day extension of the January 19 deadline to force a sale and second to President-elect Trump.

Trump, who unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok during his first term in 2020, said before the November presidential election he would not allow the ban on TikTok.

The US would not be the first country to ban TikTok, with India imposing a nationwide ban in 2020.

Other countries and regions have implemented partial bans, including the European Commission and the European Council, which banned the app from official devices last year.

TikTok asked the Supreme Court to intervene by January 6.

Additional reporting from agencies.