TikTok’s Ban-Or-Sale Law Heads To Supreme Court For Review After Emergency Injunction

The Supreme Court is stepping into the TikTok debate.

On Wednesday (Dec. 18), the SCOTUS agreed to rule on whether banning the app, unless it is sold within the coming month, violates First Amendment rights.

However, the justices stopped just short of halting the law for now, with oral arguments set for Jan. 10, 2025. The decision more or less puts TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, in a tight spot, considering the sell-or-ban cutoff takes place just nine days later.

Adding to the uncertainty, the potential ban looms as President Joe Biden’s administration prepares to leave office. President-elect Donald Trump, who initially supported shutting the app out of the country but later vowed to “save TikTok” during his campaign, said his team plans to revisit the issue. On Monday (Dec. 16), the Republican candidate met with the platform’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, at the Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, per ABC News.

SCOTUS’ agreement to take up TikTok’s case came less than two weeks after ByteDance filed an emergency injunction with the federal appeals court. “If the platform becomes unavailable in the United States, many current and would-be users and creators in the United States and abroad will migrate to competing platforms,” the 44-page court filing in which TikTok argued it would be “irreparably injured” read.

The company further noted that a 30-day ban could result in the loss of one-third of its daily U.S. users while small businesses and content creators would suffer a collective loss of over $1 billion in revenue and earnings. “As one of the most popular speech platforms in America, TikTok is used by regular citizens, businesses and politicians alike — including, in the most recent presidential election, by both major-party candidates [Kamala Harris and Donald Trump] to communicate with American voters,” TikTok explained.

As the deadline inches closer, many social media users question who could even purchase the platform. Soulja Boy, although seemingly jokingly, offered to buy it in April. Investment banker and former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, and “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary are among the more serious contenders.

via: Rap-Up

Statement on Filing Application for Emergency Injunction Pending Appeal with the Supreme Court:

""The Supreme Court has an established record of upholding Americans’ right to free speech. Today, we are asking the Court to do what it has traditionally done in free speech cases:…

— TikTok Policy (@TikTokPolicy) December 16, 2024

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