TikTok’s efforts to avoid U.S. ban face Supreme Court challenge
Edgar Cervantes/Android Authority
long story short
- The U.S. government has been trying to ban TikTok for years due to concerns about China’s influence.
- Last year, a ban became law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok by January 19, 2025.
- The Supreme Court has now heard TikTok’s arguments against the ban, but overturning the law appears increasingly unlikely.
In just over a week, a large portion of one of the world’s most popular apps has been cut off from its user base, as a U.S. TikTok ban could take effect on January 19. , we wouldn’t blame you for thinking this ban would never happen — after all, politicians have been threatening to kick TikTok out of U.S. app stores for more than four years over concerns about Chinese involvement, and so far, the The app is already available as always. TikTok does look like it’s in trouble as the deadline approaches.
Efforts to ban TikTok began in earnest last spring after politicians in the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill requiring TikTok parent company ByteDance to sell the app to another company or face a ban in the United States. While the bill failed in the Senate, a second effort succeeded and became law in late April. The bill sets out an expiring timeline, giving bitbeats until January 19 to comply.
With a sale unlikely, ByteDance’s best and last chance may be to file a Supreme Court case, with the company’s lawyers presenting the case to the judge earlier this week. According to reports, from BloombergHowever, the court did not seem to respond too favorably to the bit-hopping argument.
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Lawyers for the company told the court that China’s influence is not a meaningful factor in how TikTok operates and that a ban would effectively limit Americans’ right to free speech. While questions raised by some judges during the hearing indicated varying degrees of sympathy, the overall atmosphere was reportedly increasingly negative, and Bloomberg’s Analysis reduces TikTok’s chances of avoiding a ban from 30% to 20%.
In theory, the app could still be used in a limited form after the ban, but U.S. companies would be prohibited from supporting TikTok, including hosting it in app stores. For now, though, even some kind of limited existence feels increasingly unlikely, with company lawyers saying TikTok will “disappear” if the ban goes through.
Still, the story isn’t over yet, and even if the court doesn’t reject the ban outright, ByteDance could enjoy a stay of execution that would allow TikTok to continue operating for the time being while it considers further steps. Regardless, we’ll find out what happened in a few days.
