Supreme Court to hear TikTok’s claim that ban is violation of free speech on Jan 10

The Supreme Court Wednesday agreed to consider TikTok’s claim that a looming federal government ban is a violation of the Constitution's First Amendment protecting free speech. The court will hear arguments against the ban on Jan. 10, just 10 days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration and 9 days before the law banning the popular social media app is scheduled to take effect, CNBC reported.

TikTok sued the federal government over a ban that was passed in Congress with bipartisan support earlier this year and signed into law by President Joe Biden in April. The ban requires parent company ByteDance to sell off TikTok to an American copmany. TikTok CEO Shou Chew met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Monday. Trump has expressed support for TikTok and on the day of the meeting. 

"We’ll take a look at TikTok. You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” he said, insisting that his younger supporters had used the app to support his reelection.

On Dec. 6 the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the federal government’s ban on TikTok over concerns with national security. To avoid the ban of the app, Chinese company ByteDance would be required to divest itself from TikTok.

Congress approved the legislative ban, called the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, over fears that ownership by China would mean that the country’s communist government could force TikTok to share any data that hit wanted to access.

Petitioners to the Supreme Court on Jan. 10 will include representatives of TikTok and ByteDance as well as a cross-section of TikTok enthusiasts. Those regular users who have been asked to testify include a rancher who creates agricultural videos, a woman who posts videos about raising children and mental health issues and a woman who talks about hope for sexual assault victims.

TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said, “We’re pleased with today’s Supreme Court order. We believe the Court will find the TikTok ban unconstitutional so the over 170 million Americans on our platform can continue to exercise their free speech rights.”

TikTok claims that the loss of the app will mean a massive financial loss for small businesses in America who use it to sell their products, resulting in a $1 billion drop in revenue in the first month without the app. The company also notes that content creators rely on the app to produce $300 million in revenue.

At the Jan. 10 hearing, lawyers for TikTok and all petitioners have been instructed by the Supreme Court to prepare their testimony with a view to demonstrating that a ban “violates the First Amendment” of the Constitution. But the court fell short of ordering an injunction against the ban at this time, saying it would consider that request “pending oral argument” on Jan. 10, CNBC noted.