The U.S. Supreme Court has said it would hear arguments in TikTok’s challenge to a law that threatens to ban the app from millions of users in the United States.
In an order on Wednesday, justices said they would hear arguments in the case on January 10 – just nine days before the law is set to take effect.
TikTok and the government will be presenting arguments on whether or not the bipartisan law, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, violates the First Amendment by forcing TikTok to sell to a U.S.-based company or be banned.
The law, passed in April, was part of a foreign aid package and generated congressional support over fears that TikTok, owned by the Chinese-based company ByteDance, was storing Americans’ data for surveillance reasons.
TikTok is one of the most popular social media apps in the U.S., with more than 150 million users.
ByteDance had nine months to sell off TikTok, one of the most popular social media apps, or lose access to U.S. app stores and web-hosting services on January 19.
For months, TikTok has been trying to fight the law from taking effect, arguing it will “shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms” and thus create a chilling effect.
But they have been unable to convince courts thus far. Earlier this month, a federal appeals court upheld the law saying the Chinese government’s ability to collect Americans’ data served as a “compelling” national security interest.
After the failed attempt to delay the law, TikTok asked the Supreme Court to rule on the matter on Monday.
Justices reviewed the request and chose to take up the case in just two days. By setting oral arguments for less than a month from now, the court has indicated intervening in the matter is critical and requires swift action.
That stands in juxtaposition to the court’s timeline on President-elect Donald Trump’s request for sweeping criminal immunity in his federal election interference case this past term. It took the court 17 days to agree to hear Trump’s case, another two months to hear oral arguments, and then a little over two months to make a precedent-setting decision.
Since arguments are set to take place before Trump takes office on January 20, the Biden administration will be arguing on behalf of the government – though it was Trump’s first administration that moved to ban the social media app.
Despite Trump attempting to ban the app while president, he changed his position during his presidential campaign and vowed to protect it from being banned.
“I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” the president-elect said this past week after meeting with TikTok CEO Shou Chew.
A spokesperson for TikTok said in a statement, “We’re pleased with today’s Supreme Court order. We believe the Court will find the TikTok ban unconstitutional so the over 170 million Americans on our platform can continue to exercise their free speech rights.”
