On Wednesday, the Supreme Court confirmed it would review whether a federal law that could ban or force a sale of TikTok is unconstitutional, ArsTechnica reported.
The announcement came just one day after TikTok and its owner ByteDance petitioned SCOTUS for a temporary injunction to halt the ban until the high court could consider what TikTok claimed is “a massive and unprecedented speech restriction” ahead of a change in the US presidential administrations.
“We’re pleased with today’s Supreme Court order,” TikTok said in a statement. “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.”
But while SCOTUS agreed to review the key question that remains for TikTok — whether the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act violates the First Amendment — the court declined to order the injunction that TikTok sought.
“Considering the applications for an injunction pending review presented to The Chief Justice and by him referred to the Court is deferring pending oral argument,” court’s announcement said.
TechCrunch reported: The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that it will hear ByteDance and TikTok’s challenge to a law that would ban the social network in the U.S. unless the social network divests from Chinese ownership by January 19.
On January 10, the Supreme Court justices will hear arguments about whether the sell-or-ban law violates the First Amendment. It is unknown how quickly the court will come to a decision.
The two companies asked the Supreme court on Monday to block the law. Last week, ByteDance and TikTok filed an emergency motion asking an appeals court to temporarily block the law in order to give the Supreme Court a chance to assess the case.
The social network may also get a lifeline from President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to save TikTok, it’s worth noting that TikTok CEO Shou Chew reportedly met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, according to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
The Verge reported:The Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on whether a bill that could ban TikTok violates the First Amendment, The arguments will take place on January 10th, just over a week before a potential ban could take effect.
While the outcome is far from guaranteed, SCOTUS’ decision to take up the case is a small win for TikTok, which is barreling toward expulsion from the US unless the court throws out or pauses the law, or its China-based parent company ByteDance agrees to sell it in time.
The law at the center of the case, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, seeks to prohibit apps like TikTok from being owned by companies in a list of foreign adversary countries.
In my opinion, it sounds like SCOTUS is going to take a close look whether or not banning or forcing a sale of TikTok is unconstitutional.