The Supreme Court has sided with the Biden administration on legislation that could ban TikTok within days. In a unanimous decision, the court upheld the law, writing in an unsigned opinion, “Given TikTok’s size and vulnerability to foreign enemy control, as well as the vast amount of sensitive data the platform collects, the government’s national security Discriminatory treatment to address security concerns is justified.” ”
The ruling ends many of TikTok’s legal challenges to a law passed last spring that required it to sell TikTok to ByteDance or face a ban in the United States. This comes days after the Biden administration moved to restrict exports of GPUs used in AI applications amid rising tensions between the United States and China.
TikTok said in a statement: “Unfortunately, we will be forced to suspend service on January 19th unless the Biden administration…immediately provides a final statement that satisfies our most critical service providers that guarantees there will be no enforcement action.” You won’t get it,” he said. Biden said that neither the White House nor the Department of Justice have been able to provide the clarity and assurances needed to essential service providers to make TikTok available to more than 170 million Americans. .
White House officials announced Thursday that the Biden administration will not enforce the ban in President Joe Biden’s final days in office. President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office one day after the ban goes into effect, has indicated he wants to “save” the app. This has led to speculation that he may direct the Justice Department not to enforce the law or find another arrangement that would allow him to maintain access to the app.
“The Supreme Court’s decision was expected and everyone must respect it,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “My decision regarding TikTok will be made in the not-too-distant future, but I need time to review the situation.” He also said he had discussed TikTok with China’s Xi Jinping on Friday, but did not provide details. There wasn’t. Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that President Trump is considering an executive order that would give TikTok an additional “60 or 90 days” to comply with the law. TikTok CEO Shou Chu will attend President Trump’s inauguration, joining Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and others.
In a short statement shared on TikTok, Chu thanked President Trump but did not say whether the app would go dark this weekend when the ban goes into effect. “We want to thank President Trump for his commitment to working with us to find a solution to keep TikTok available in the United States,” he said. “This is a strong position in support of the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship.”Representatives of TikTok, Google, Apple, and Oracle (which hosts TikTok’s U.S. data) say they are abiding by the law. did not answer questions regarding plans to do so.
Justice Neil Gorsuch acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding TikTok’s future in a concurring opinion. “Even what’s next for TikTok is still unclear,” he wrote. “All I can say is that at this point, under these constraints, the problem is real and the response to it is not unconstitutional.”
Free speech groups denounced the law and the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold it. “The Supreme Court’s decision is deeply disappointing, and the government’s decision to use fear-mongering and speculation to undermine entire platforms and the free speech rights of so many people,” Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, said in a statement. We allowed it to close down.” . “By refusing to block this ban, the Supreme Court is giving the executive branch unprecedented power to silence speech it doesn’t like, making the sweeping invocation of ‘national security’ a constitutional right.” There is a growing danger that this will be prioritized.”
“Banning or forcing the sale of a single social media app will do virtually nothing to protect Americans’ data privacy,” the electronic frontier foundation, a digital rights group, said in a statement. is the only comprehensive consumer privacy law.”
TikTok users have also vocally opposed the ban. Before the bill was passed, many fans called their congressman’s office and urged them not to support it. The move may have had unintended consequences, as some lawmakers have accused TikTok of “interfering in the legislative process” by encouraging users to make calls. Recently, TikTok fans’ search for alternatives has propelled a number of previously unknown apps to the top of app stores, including the Chinese social media app known as “RedNote” or Xiaohongshu .
Updated January 17, 2025, 9:45 a.m. PT: This post has been updated with details from a statement by Shou Chew.
Updated January 17, 2025, 10:00 PM ET: Added TikTok statement.
