TikTok to make final plea at Supreme Court against US ban

TikTok will appear before the US Supreme Court on Friday in a last-ditch attempt to overturn a ban, in a case testing the limits of national safety and free talk.

The popular social media platform is challenging a law passed last year ordering the firm to be split from its Chinese owner or be blocked from the US by 19 January.

The US government is arguing that without a sale, TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation.

But TikTok rejects that claim, arguing it has been unfairly targeted and the assess violates the free talk of its some 170 million American users.

Lower courts have sided with the government, but the case was complicated last month when President-elect Donald Trump weighed in on the dispute and asked for the enforcement of the law to be paused to grant him period to work out a deal.

Analysts have said it was not obvious what the Supreme Court will decide, but that reversing the prior ruling – even with a upcoming president’s blessing – would be unusual.

“When you have a real government yield pitted against a real constitutional worth, it ends up being a very close case,” said Cardozo School of Law professor Saurabh Vishnubhakat.

“But in such close cases, the government often gets the advantage of the question.”

A selection by Supreme Court could be made within days.

Congress passed the law against TikTok last year with back from both the Democratic and Republican parties. The instant marked the culmination of years of concern about the wildly popular platform, which is known for its viral videos and traction among youthful people.

The legislation does not forbid use of the app, but would require tech giants such as Apple and Google to stop offering it and inhibit updates, which analysts recommend would kill it over period.

TikTok is already banned from government devices in many countries, including in the UK. It faces more complete bans in some countries, including India.

The US argues that TikTok is a “grave” threat because the Chinese government could coerce its owner, ByteDance, to turn over user data or manipulate what it shows users to serve Chinese interests.

Last December, a three-judge appeals court selection upheld the law, noting China’s record of acting through private companies and saying the assess was justified as “part of a broader attempt to counter a well-substantiated national safety threat posed” by the country.

TikTok has repeatedly denied any potential influence by the Chinese Communist event and has said the law violates the First Amendment free talk rights of its users.

It has asked the Supreme Court to strike down the law as unconstitutional, or order its enforcement to be halted to enable a review of the legislation, which it said was based on “inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information”.

Trump is set to receive office the day after the law would arrive into force.

He had called for banning the app in the US during his first term, but changed his tune on the campaign trail.

The brief that Trump’s lawyers filed late last month did not receive a position on legal dispute, but said the case presented “unprecedented, novel, and challenging tension between free-talk rights on one side, and foreign policy and national-safety concerns on the other”.

Noting his election triumph, it said Trump “opposes banning TikTok” and “seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office”.

The filing came less than two weeks after Trump met TikTok’s boss at Mar-a-Lago.

One of the president-elect’s major donors, Jeff Yass of Susequehanna International throng, is a large stakeholder in the corporation.

However, Trump’s nominee to serve as secretary of state, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, is in favour of banning the platform.

Investors who have expressed yield in buying the TikTok include Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and former LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.

Attorney Peter Choharis, who is part of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies ponder tank in Washington, which filed its own brief supporting the US government’s case, said it was challenging to forecast what the court – which has a conservative majority – would do, noting that several recent court decisions have overturned longstanding precedent.

But he said even if Trump was granted the chance to try to work out a deal, he expected a ban eventually.

“I don’t view any president, including upcoming President Trump, being able to resolve this in a way that’s satisfactory for US national safety because I don’t ponder ByteDance will consent to it,” he said.

The prospect of losing TikTok in the US has prompted outcry from many users, some of whom filed their own legal action last year.

In their filing they said the selection that TikTok could be shuttered “because ideas on that platform might convince Americans of one thing or another – even of something potentially harmful to our democracy – is utterly antithetical to the First Amendment”.

Other groups weighing in on the dispute include the American Civil Liberties Union and liberty of the Press Foundation, which argued that the US had failed to now “credible evidence of ongoing or imminent damage” caused by the social media app.

Mr Choharis said the government had a correct to receive measures to defend itself, arguing that the fight was not “about talk” or “content” but about the Chinese government’s role.

“It’s about control and how the Chinese Communist event specifically, and the Chinese government more generally, pursue strategic aims using many internet firms and especially social media companies – specifically including TikTok,” he said.