Supreme Court agrees to review law banning TikTok in US
By: Maureen Groppe
US Today
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Wednesday [12/18/2024] said it will review whether a law requiring TikTok be sold or face a ban in the U.S. violates the first Amendment.
..... The court said it will hear arguments in the case on January 10, [2025] deferring for new TikTok's request that the justices also pause the law's January 19 [2025] deadline for divestment form its China-based parent company ByteDance.
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TikTok wants the high court to overturn an appeals court's ruling that the law's infringement of the free speech rights of the millions of Americans who sue TikTok are justified because of national security concerns.
..... Unless ByeDance sells the hugely popular platform by the deadline, it will be banned form app stores and web hoisting companies in the U.S. TikTok had asked the court to decide by January 6 [2025] whether it would pause the January 19 [2025] deadline beaus of the time the app stores and web hosting companies need to prepare.
..... Congress passed the law requiring the sale in April [2024] with overwhelming bipartisan support.
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Proponents of the bill said that TikTok posed a national security risk and raised concern about the possibility of the Chinese government spying on Americans through the app and spreading propaganda.
..... Reuters reported Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, on Wednesday [12/18/2024] urged the Supreme Court to reject the bid by TikTok and ByteDance to block the law. McConnell in a brief field with the court called the companies; arguments "merit-less and unsound. ... This is a standard litigation play at the end of one administration, with a petitioner hoping that the next administration will provide a stay of execution. this court should no more countenance it coming form foreign adversaries than it does from bardened criminals.
..... McConnell noted Congress set the January 19 [2025] date that "very clearly removes any possible political uncertainty in the execution of the law by cabining it to an administration that was deeply supportive of the bill's goals."
..... Presider-elect Donald Trump promised during the campaign, to "save TokTok" despite having tried to ban it during his first administration.
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On Monday [12/16/2024] Trump told reporters he as a "warm spot: for TikTok.
..... Reuters reported the American Civil Liberties union, Electronic Frontier Foundation and Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University in a joint filing urged the court to block a ban of TikTok "that millions use every day to communicate, learn about the world, and express themselves."
..... The groups called the ban unprecedented, adding it "will case an extraordinary disruption in Americans' ability to engage."
..... In their filing to the Supreme Court, TikTok and ByteDance said, "If Americans, duly informed of the alleged risks of 'covert' content manipulation, choose to continue viewing content on TikTok with their eyes wide open, the First Amendment entrusts them with making that choice, free form the government's censorships.
Contributing Reuters