The Supreme Court of the United States supported this Friday the law that could force the social network TikTok to suspend its operations in the country before this Sunday, as it has not separated itself from its parent company, the Chinese ByteDance.
In a major defeat for TikTok, the court ruled that the law does not violate the right to freedom of expression and that the US government had demonstrated legitimate national security concerns about a Chinese company that owned the app.
The ruling means that the 170 million Americans who use the application will be able to keep it installed on their devices, but as of January 19 They could stop receiving updates and would not be able to download it again, which would eventually cause the platform to stop working.
The Supreme Court, however, does not clearly define the future of TikTok in the United States, which will depend largely on what the president-elect decides, Donald Trump, who during his first term (2016-2021) tried to ban the application, although now he is in favor of it continuing to operate.
In fact, the White House said that Joe Biden’s administration will leave the decision of how to implement the law in Trump’s hands, given that he will take office on Monday, one day after the ban is scheduled to take effect.
Even if Biden gives Trump the implementation of the ruling, TikTok could choose to suspend its operations in USA proactively.
During oral arguments before the Supreme Court last week, a lawyer for TikTok already warned that the social network “will go dark” on Sunday if it is not allowed to continue operating in the country, thus closing the door on a possible sale to a buyer United States.
For his part, Trump is currently exploring options to ensure the continuity of the platform, Florida Congressman Mike Waltz, chosen to be the next White House National Security Advisor, said in an interview on the Fox network on Wednesday.
Trump also said today on his social network Truth Social that he had addressed the TikTok controversy with the president of China, Xi Jinping, in the middle of a telephone conversation.
Tiktok had been aware of this measure since 2024
The ban on TikTok has its origins in a law that Congress approved in April 2024 with the support of Democrats and Republicans.
That legislation gave ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok’s US operations to an investor who was not considered an “adversary” of the country and established that it would otherwise be banned on January 19 for reasons of national security.
Despite political pressure, ByteDance has refused to sell TikTok and has chosen to defend itself in court, arguing that banning the app would violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution, that protects the freedom of expression.
The judges of the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority, unanimously rejected TikTok’s arguments this Friday and endorsed the law approved by the Congress.
The Biden administration and lawmakers who pushed for the rule maintain that it is essential for TikTok to disassociate itself from ByteDance for national security reasons, amid fears that the Chinese government could access the data of American users or influence the public debate in the country.
Faced with these arguments, TikTok has repeatedly denied that it can be used as a tool for Beijing to influence American public opinion.
Source: https://www.noticiascaracol.com/mundo/corte-suprema-de-estados-unidos-avala-ley-que-prohibe-tiktok-cuando-dejaria-de-funcionar-cb20
