TikTok asks the Supreme Court for an emergency order to block a US ban unless it’s sold
WASHINGTON — TikTok asked the on Monday Supreme Court to intervene in emergencies federal law that would ban the popular platform in the United States unless its China-based parent company agreed to sell it.
Lawyers for the company and China-based ByteDance urged the judges to intervene before the Jan. 19 deadline. A similar plea was expected from content creators who rely on the platform for their income and from some of TikTok’s more than 170 million users in the US.
“A modest delay in enforcing the law will create breathing space for this Court to conduct an orderly review and for the new administration to evaluate this case – before this crucial channel for Americans to communicate with their fellow citizens and world is closing down,” lawyers for the companies told the Supreme Court.
President-elect Donald Trump, who once supported a ban but then promised during the campaign to “save” TikTok, said his administration would review the situation.
“As you know, I have a warm place in my heart for TikTok,” Trump said during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. His campaign saw the platform as a way to reach younger, less politically engaged voters.
The companies have said a shutdown of just a month would cause TikTok to lose about a third of its daily users in the U.S. and significant advertising revenue.
The case could arouse the court’s interest because it pits freedom of expression against that of the government stated objectives to protect national securitywhile raising new issues about social media platforms.
The request will first go to Chief Justice John Roberts, who oversees emergency court cases in the nation’s capital. He will almost certainly request input from all nine judges.
On Friday, a panel of federal judges spoke on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit refused an emergency plea to block the law, a procedural ruling that allowed the case to be taken to the Supreme Court.
The same panel had before unanimously defended the law after a First Amendment challenge, claiming it violated free speech rights.
Without a court-ordered freeze, the law would come into effect on January 19 and expose app stores that offer TikTok and internet hosting services that support it to potential fines.
It is the job of the Department of Justice to enforce the law, investigate possible violations, and impose sanctions. But lawyers for TikTok and ByteDance have argued that Trump’s Justice Department could pause enforcement or otherwise try to mitigate the law’s most serious consequences. Trump takes office one day after the law comes into effect.
The Supreme Court could temporarily suspend the law so the justices can pay more attention to the First Amendment and other issues. They were also able to quickly schedule arguments and try to make a decision before January 19.
On the other hand, the Supreme Court could reject the emergency appeal, which would allow the law to take effect as planned.
With that latter prospect in mind, the companies’ lawyers asked for a ruling on their emergency request by January 6, saying they would need time “to coordinate with their service providers to carry out the complex task of launching the TikTok platform only in the United States.”
The case moved through the courts relatively quickly after a bipartisan majority in Congress passed the law and President Joe Biden signed it in April.