TikTok Appeals to the Supreme Court
TikTok has formally requested that the US Supreme Court temporarily stay the new law that could potentially lead to the app being banned unless it is sold to its parent company ByteDance.
In an emergency motion filed on Monday (December 16), TikTok’s attorneys referenced the First Amendment, asserting that “Congress has enacted sweeping and unprecedented restrictions on free speech” by targeting the app through the Protecting Americans from Controlled Foreign Adversary Apps Act, which was signed into law by President Joe Biden in April 2024.
A statement released on TikTok’s website stated, “The Supreme Court has a long-standing history of protecting Americans’ right to free speech” and urged the Court to apply the strictest scrutiny to speech bans, concluding that it violates the First Amendment.
TikTok boasts over 170 million US monthly users.
Legislative Warnings and Public Reactions
The emergency appeal to the Supreme Court follows a warning from US lawmakers to Google and Apple on Friday (December 13), instructing them to prepare for the removal of TikTok from their app stores by January 19, 2025, unless ByteDance has sold the platform by then.
President-elect Donald Trump commented on TikTok’s future during a press conference, expressing that he has a “warm place in his heart” for the app, suggesting it positively influenced his youth vote share in recent elections.
Court Proceedings and TikTok’s Position
A significant conflict between US lawmakers and the social video app follows the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decision last Friday (December 6) to dismiss TikTok’s lawsuit against the law.
On December 9, TikTok and ByteDance filed an emergency application in the Court of Appeal, requesting an interim injunction to delay the legislation. The US Department of Justice urged the court to dismiss the petition on December 12, which the Court of Appeal did on December 13. TikTok is now seeking relief from the Supreme Court.
In its latest petition, TikTok claims the app “is an online platform that is one of the most popular and important places for communication in the country.” Furthermore, it noted that the app “is provided in the (US) by TikTok Inc., a U.S. company that is indirectly owned by ByteDance Ltd., a Cayman Islands holding company majority owned by institutional investors.”
TikTok’s legal team argues that, since TikTok Inc. “is a U.S. company exercising editorial discretion over a U.S. speech platform, it is fully protected by the First Amendment from attempts by Congress to prohibit it from operating based on perceived susceptibility to foreign influence.”
The document further states: “The strict controls applied here are akin to Congress prohibiting a certain American citizen from running an American newspaper solely due to a foreign entity potentially controlling the content or misusing subscriber data.”
The deadline for TikTok to be divested from ByteDance or face a ban in the US market is set for January 19, the day before the presidential inauguration.
In a statement on Monday, TikTok remarked that “a temporary injunction is also appropriate as it provides the new administration with time to determine its stance, given that the President-elect and his advisers have shown support for preserving TikTok.”
The company also argued that “a slight delay in implementing the law would allow the (Supreme Court) to conduct an orderly review and enable the new administration to assess the matter before it becomes a critical communication channel for Americans.”
