TikTok Seeks Supreme Court Intervention to Stop Ban

What Happened?

Video-sharing social media application TikTok has formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in.

It wants the Court to intervene in the impending nationwide ban that would remove millions of users from its app.

In TikTok and parent company ByteDance's filing Monday, the popular media platform alleged that:

'[The] Act will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration. 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.'

U.S. lawmakers have stood firm against TikTok as it faces a nationwide ban following the rejection of a temporary pause.

The DC Circuit of Appeals rejected the pause Friday, calling such a block 'unwarranted,' according to reports as it paves the way for the Supreme Court to ultimately determine the fate of the globally popular social platform app.

To avoid the ban, China-based tech company ByteDance, the current owner of TikTok, was informed that the platform must be sold in the U.S. before January 19, which has been ordered due to national security concerns.

Lawmakers have also reportedly informed Google and Apple to prepare to remove the Chinese-owned platform from their app stores on January 19 after failing in their bid to delay the nationwide ban.

Why it Matters

As it relates to federal legislation and privacy concerns, TikTok has been under the microscope for years.

During President-elect Donald Trump's first term in 2020, he invoked an executive order to impose broad sanctions against TikTok. This was amid the spread in the U.S. of mobile apps owned and developed by companies in China that allegedly 'threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.'

The concern is that TikTok automatically captures tons of personal data information from its users, including Internet and other network activity such as location, browsing, and search histories.

That 'threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.'

In April, President Joe Biden signed a bill into law that required TikTok to be sold to a non-Chinese company, citing the same national security concerns.

However, Trump, who begins his second term on January 20, has recently somewhat changed course. He could now be on TikTok’s side, following a video posted in June to the platform during a UFC event on his now official account.

In another video later posted on the president-elect's TikTok account, Trump says, 'I'm going to save TikTok.'

How it Affects You

While the stance of whether TikTok violates these national security concerns, the platform still remains home to over one million content creators who earn a living through the app.

In a three-year span from 2020 to 2023, TikTok’s user base reportedly expanded from 465.7 million to 834.3 million.

As data would suggest, the app has become a means of a getaway into an entertainment space enjoyed by millions of Americans.

The results of a nationwide ban could certainly sadden many who have grown to love the platform.

But ByteDance aims to fight the ban and has not given in to selling the platform.

Is the threat of national security at stake the longer a China-owned platform like TikTok remains operational in the U.S.? That question may be what the U.S. Supreme Court decides.