Editor-DN
Washington, USA:
The US Supreme Court is set to hear TikTok’s appeal on Friday against a law that would have forced its Chinese owner to sell or shut down the hugely popular online video-sharing platform.
The Supreme Court is holding oral arguments in the case nine days before TikTok faces a ban unless ByteDance withdraws from the popular app.
Signed by President Joe Biden in April, the law would block TikTok from US app stores and web hosting services unless ByteDance sells its stake by January 19.
The US government alleges that TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users and is a tool for spreading propaganda. China and Byte Dance vehemently deny these claims.
TikTok is arguing that the law — protecting Americans from the Anti-Foreign Controlled Applications Act — violates its First Amendment rights.
“We are confident that the court will declare the ban on TikTok unconstitutional so that the more than 170 million Americans on our platform can continue to exercise their free speech rights,” a TikTok spokesperson said.
In a filing with the Supreme Court, TikTok said “Congress has imposed a sweeping and unprecedented restriction on speech” that would “shut down one of America’s most popular speech platforms.”
It added, “This, in turn, will silence the speech of applicants and the many Americans who use this platform to discuss politics, commerce, the arts and other matters of public concern. “
The possible ban could strain US-China relations as Donald Trump prepares to be sworn in as president on January 20.
Trump, who has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, has emerged as an unlikely ally of the platform in a reversal from his first term, when the Republican leader tried to ban the app, citing national security concerns. of
Trump’s lawyer, John Sauer, filed a brief with the Supreme Court last month asking him to block the law.
As amicus curiae — or “friend of the court” — in short, Sauer clarified that the president-elect does not take a position on the legal merits of the current case.
“Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider staying the Act’s deadline for distribution of January 19, 2025…thereby allowing the incoming administration of President Trump to resolve the ongoing questions in this matter.” will have an opportunity to follow,” Sauer said.
‘You need competition’
The president-elect met with Tik Tok chief executive Shu Zhiqiu in December at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Trump recently told Bloomberg that he has changed his mind about the app.
“Now (that) I think about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition,” he said.
A coalition of free speech groups — including the influential American Civil Liberties Union — filed a separate brief with the Supreme Court opposing the law, citing censorship concerns.
“Such a ban is unprecedented in our country and, if enacted, would cause far-reaching disruption to Americans’ ability to engage with the content and audiences they love online,” he said.
In an 11th-hour development on Thursday, US billionaire Frank McCourt, founder of the non-profit Project Liberty, announced that he had put together a consortium to acquire TikTok’s US assets from ByteDance.
“We have made a proposal to ByteDance,” McCourt said in a statement. “We look forward to working with ByteDance, President-elect Trump, and the incoming administration to execute this agreement.”
AFP, among more than a dozen other fact-checking organizations, is paid by TikTok in several countries to verify videos that contain potentially false information.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
