TIKTOK asked the US Supreme Court on Monday to temporarily block a law that would force its Chinese owner to sell the popular online video-sharing platform or shut down a month from now.
The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, would block TikTok from US app stores and web hosting services unless its owner ByteDance divests from the app by Jan 19.
TikTok asked for the move to be put on hold while it challenges a lower court ruling that upheld the law, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, potentially with an appeal to the Supreme Court itself.
TikTok asked the nation’s top court to make a decision by Jan 6.
“Congress has enacted a massive and unprecedented speech restriction,” TikTok, which claims to have more than 170 million monthly American users, said in its filing with the Supreme Court.
Should the law come into force it would “shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration,” TikTok said.
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“This, in turn, will silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern,” it added.
“Applicants – as well as countless small businesses who rely on the platform – also will suffer substantial and unrecoverable monetary and competitive harms.”
The potential ban could strain US-China relations just as Donald Trump prepares to take office on Jan 20.
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The US president-elect has emerged as an unlikely TikTok ally amid concerns that a ban on the app would mainly benefit Meta, the Facebook parent company owned by Mark Zuckerberg.
Trump’s stance reflects conservative criticism of Meta for allegedly suppressing right-wing content, including the former president himself being banned from Facebook after the Jan 6, 2021 US Capitol riot by his supporters.
Trump’s support for TikTok marks a reversal from his first term, when the Republican leader tried to ban the app over similar security concerns.
The US government alleges TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users. It also says the video hosting service is a conduit to spread propaganda, though China and ByteDance strongly deny these claims.
A three-judge US appeals court panel earlier this month unanimously upheld the law’s premise that TikTok divesting from Chinese ownership “is essential to protect our national security.” AFP
