The Supreme Court on Friday, January 17, 2025, upheld a law set to ban social media platform TikTok in less than 48 hours.
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the ruling states. “But 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.”
It continues, “For the foregoing Per Curiam reasons, we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights. The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is affirmed.”
The court’s ruling was unanimous, with liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor and conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch writing concurring opinions.
Unless TikTok severs ties with China-based parent company ByteDance, the ban will take effect on Sunday, the day President-elect Donald Trump assumes office.
The ruling follows an indication from the Biden administration that it would not enforce the potential ban in the immediate aftermath of the deadline, leaving implementation of the law to Trump. Trump, who opposed the ban, has said he will seek to reverse it.
TikTok — which boasts more than 170 million U.S. users — challenged the sale-or-ban law on First Amendment grounds, arguing that a potential ban would limit the free-expression rights of its users.
Lower courts, however, found merit in security concerns about potential Chinese government data collection or content manipulation.
This is a developing story and RTC’s Zoya Faessler will have more on this during the week.
