U.S. Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok starting January 19 if not sold by its Chinese parent company

Supreme Court refuses to save TikTok from sale or ban, citing national security concerns over Chinese ownership.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to rescue TikTok on Friday (January 17, 2025) from a law that required the popular short-video app to be sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance or banned on Sunday (January 19, 2025) in the United States on national security grounds — a major blow to a platform used by nearly half of all Americans.

The justices ruled that the law, passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress last year and signed by Democratic President Joe Biden, did not violate the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech. The justices overturned a lower court's decision that had upheld the measure after it was challenged by TikTok, ByteDance and some of the app's users.

"There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community. But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok's data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary," the court said in the unsigned opinion.

The court added that "we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners' First Amendment rights."

The Supreme Court acted speedily in the case, having held arguments on Jan. 10, just nine days before the deadline set under the law. The case pitted free speech rights against national security concerns in the age of social media.

TikTok is one of the most prominent social media platforms in the United States, used by about 270 million Americans - roughly half the country’s population, including many young people. TikTok’s powerful algorithm, its main asset, feeds individual users short videos tailored to their liking. The platform presents a vast collection of user-submitted videos, often under a minute in duration, that can be viewed with a smart phone app or on the internet.

China and the United States are economic and geopolitical rivals, and TikTok’s Chinese ownership for years has raised concerns among American leaders. The TikTok fight has unfolded during the waning days of Biden’s presidency - Republican Donald Trump succeeds him on Monday (January 20, 2025) — and at a time of rising trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.