The Supreme Court will hear TikTok’s latest appeal against the US ban

TikTok will appear before the US Supreme Court on Friday in its latest attempt to overturn the ban in a case testing the limits of national security and free speech.

The popular social media platform is challenging a law passed last year that ordered the firm to separate from its Chinese owner or be banned from the US by January 19.

The US government claims that without selling TikTok, it could be used by China as a tool for espionage and political manipulation.

But TikTok rejects the claim, arguing that it was unfairly targeted and that the measure violates the free speech of about 170 million American users.

Lower courts sided with the government, but the case became more complicated last month when President-elect Donald Trump weighed in on the dispute and asked for a stay on the law to give him time to work out a deal.

Analysts say it’s unclear what the Supreme Court will decide, but overturning a previous ruling — even with the blessing of a future president — would be unusual.

“When you have a real government interest pitted against a real constitutional value, it ends up being a very close case,” said Cardoza School of Law professor Saurabh Visnubhakat.

“But in such close cases, the government often gets the benefit of the doubt.”

The decision of the Supreme Court may be made within a few days.

Congress passed legislation against TikTok last year with support from both the Democratic and Republican parties. The moment was the culmination of years of concern about the hugely popular platform, known for its viral videos and popularity among young people.

The legislation does not ban use of the app, but requires tech giants such as Apple and Google to stop offering it and ban updates, which analysts believe will eventually stop it.

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

The US says TikTok is a “serious” threat because the Chinese government can force its owner, ByteDance, to hand over user data or manipulate what it shows users to serve China’s interests.

Last December, a three-judge appeals court decision upheld the law, noting that China was acting through private companies and saying the measure was justified as “part of a broader effort to counter a well-founded national security threat” by the country.

TikTok has repeatedly denied any possible influence from the Chinese Communist Party and has said the law violates users’ rights to free speech enshrined in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

He appealed to the Supreme Court to declare the law unconstitutional or order a stay so it could review the legislation, which he said was based on “inaccurate, erroneous and hypothetical information”.

Trump is set to take office the day after the law takes effect.

He called for the app to be banned in the US during his first term, but changed his tune during the campaign.

A brief filed late last month by Trump’s lawyers did not take a position on the legal dispute, but said the case represents an “unprecedented, new and complex tension between free speech rights on the one hand and foreign policy and national security concerns on the other.” other”.

Celebrating his election victory, it said that Trump “opposes the TikTok ban” and “looks for opportunities to solve existing problems through political means when he takes office.”

The filing comes less than two weeks after Trump met with the TikTok boss in Mar-a-Lago.

One of the president-elect’s top donors, Jeff Yass of Susequehanna International Group, is a major stakeholder in the campaign.

However, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, is in favor of banning the platform.

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

Attorney Peter Choharis, who is part of a group that filed its own brief in support of the U.S. government’s case, said it was hard to predict 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 is given a chance to try to work out a deal, he expects a ban eventually.

“I don’t see any president, including President-elect Trump, being able to resolve this in a way that is satisfactory to US national security, because I don’t think ByteDance would agree to that,” he said.

The prospect of TikTok losing its U.S. presence has angered many users, some of whom filed their own lawsuits last year.

In a statement, they said that the decision that TikTok can be shut down “because the ideas on this platform may persuade Americans of one thing or another — even of something potentially harmful to our democracy — is completely inconsistent with the First Amendment.”

Other groups involved in the dispute include the American Civil Liberties Union and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which argued that the US had not presented “credible evidence of permanent or imminent harm” caused by the social media program.

Mr Choharis said the government had the right to take action to protect itself, arguing that the fight was not about “speech” or “content”, but about the role of the Chinese government.

“It’s about control and how the Chinese Communist Party in particular and the Chinese government in general are pursuing strategic goals using a lot of internet firms and especially social media companies — including TikTok in particular,” he said.