Supreme Court agrees to hear case over TikTok ban
BY Jon Powell / 12.18.2024
On Wednesday (Dec. 18), the Supreme Court announced that it will take on the contentious issue of whether to ban TikTok. The justices agreed to expedite the matter and are set to hear the case on Jan. 10, 2025, nine days before said ban is supposed to take effect.
The heated battle between Congress and the social media platform’s users and executives has been brewing for some time. Citing national safety concerns over the app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, lawmakers were able to pass the aforementioned ban earlier this year with bipartisan support. President Joe Biden signed it into law in April. As it stands, TikTok would need to sever its Chinese ties to continue operating within the United States.
As reported by REVOLT, a D.C. federal appeals court recently upheld the ban in a unanimous decision, stating that the government has a legitimate national security interest. In turn, TikTok’s executives argued that the ban violates the First Amendment.
“The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” read an official statement from the company following the decision. “Unfortunately, the... ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed, and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people... Unless stopped, [it] will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the U.S. and around the world.”
As CNN explained, the handling of TikTok’s appeal was “unusually fast.” Even with urgent cases, the Supreme Court typically reviews written briefings from both parties before deciding to add to their regular docket. In this instance, they bypassed that process entirely and agreed to a hearing without delay. In doing so, the court deferred ruling on whether to temporarily block the ban. Instead, the justices will consider that question during oral arguments.