The US Supreme Court ruled against that requires the popular video app to be sold by the Chinese company that owns the platform used by 170 million people in the US.
The ruling means that TikTok could be shut down under federal law, formally called formally called the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act,” as soon as Sunday.
What happens next?
If the ban goes through and takes effect this Sunday, it will be illegal for app stores like the ones operated by Google and Apple to distribute TikTok to its users.
According to the legislation that was signed into law last April by Joe Biden after it was passed by Congress, TikTok will be pulled from those stores.
While existing downloads are likely going to be unaffected initially, no new downloads will be available to users.
TikTok has sought to fight the ban and has argued that divestment was not a feasible option. It has said it “go dark” as of Sunday.
What did the Court say?
The justices unanimously ruled that the federal law did not violate the free speech laws under the Constitution’s First Amendment rights.
The court concluded the reason for enacting the law was “decidedly content agnostic” and had nothing to do with restricting free speech.
“Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary,” the court said in the unsigned opinion.”
Trump administration in charge of fate of TikTok
The White House said in a statement following the Supreme Court judgement that “TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law.”
“Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday.”
President-elect Donald Trump might consider an executive order to allow TikTok to continue operating in the US, US media outlets have reported.
But it’s unclear whether an executive order could halt the ban given that the order could be challenged in court.
rm/rc (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
The post US Supreme Court upholds federal law that bans TikTok appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
