TikTok

 

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Friday in a high-stakes case reviewing a federal law that would effectively shut down TikTok in the United States in less than two weeks if the company does not divest from Chinese ownership.

After roughly 2½ hours of arguments over the law, the justices appeared likely to uphold it.

Attorneys for TikTok, its parent company ByteDance and content creators argued that the ban-or-sale law would be a sweeping violation of free speech protections for the platform’s more than 170 million users in the United States.

TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco said it could also open the door to a dangerous form of censorship. He added that “we shut down” if the law goes into effect, although other legal experts dispute that contention.

Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar countered that TikTok is a glaring national security threat that could be used by China to harvest data from millions of Americans, manipulate them or even blackmail them.

The law is set to take effect Jan. 19, unless the Supreme Court acts to block it.

Key updates:

• Supreme Court appears likely to clear the way for ban or sale of TikTok
• Justices ask whether ban could be justified on data security concerns
• TikTok attorney argues law opens door to dangerous censorship

-The Washington Post