TikTok urges US Supreme Court to temporarily block law that could ban app

Lawyers for the company and China-based ByteDance urged the US top court to step in before the law's January 19 deadline with a similar plea filed by content creators who rely on the platform for income and some of its users in the US.

In Short

• TikTok urges court to intervene before January 19 deadline
• Seeks delay in ban so court can conduct orderly review of the matter
• Ban pits free speech rights against government's national security claims

TikTok on Monday asked the Supreme Court to step in on an emergency basis to block the federal law that would ban the popular platform in the US unless its China-based parent company agreed to sell it.

Lawyers for the company and China-based ByteDance urged the justices to step in before the law’s January 19 deadline. A similar plea was filed by content creators who rely on the platform for income and some of TikTok’s more than 170 million users in the US.

"A modest delay in enforcing the Act will create breathing room for this Court to conduct an orderly review and the new Administration to evaluate this matter — before this vital channel for Americans to communicate with their fellow citizens and the world is closed," lawyers for the companies told the Supreme Court.

President-elect Donald Trump, who once supported a ban but then pledged during the campaign to "save TikTok," said his administration would take a look at the situation.

"As you know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok," Trump said during a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. His campaign saw the platform as a way to reach younger, less politically engaged voters.

Trump was meeting with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Mar-a-Lago on Monday, according to two people familiar with the president-elect’s plans who were not authorised to speak publicly about them and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The companies have said that a shutdown lasting just a month would cause TikTok to lose about a third of its daily users in the US and significant advertising revenue.

The case could attract the court’s interest because it pits free speech rights against the government’s stated aims of protecting national security, while raising novel issues about social media platforms.

The request first goes to Chief Justice John Roberts, who oversees emergency appeals from courts in the nation’s capital. He almost certainly will seek input from all nine justices.

On Friday, a panel of federal judges on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied an emergency plea to block the law, a procedural ruling that allowed the case to move to the Supreme Court.

The same panel had earlier unanimously upheld the law over a First Amendment challenge claiming that it violated free speech rights.

Without a court-ordered freeze, the law would take effect on January 19 and expose app stores that offer TikTok and internet hosting services that support it to potential fines.

It would be up to the Justice Department to enforce the law, investigating possible violations and seeking sanctions. But lawyers for TikTok and ByteDance have argued that Trump’s Justice Department might pause enforcement or otherwise seek to mitigate the law’s most severe consequences. Trump takes office a day after the law goes into effect.

The Supreme Court could temporarily put the law on hold so that the justices can give fuller consideration to First Amendment and other issues. They also could quickly schedule arguments and try to render a decision by January 19.

On the other hand, the high court could reject the emergency appeal, which would allow the law to take effect as scheduled.

With that last prospect in mind, the companies’ lawyers asked for a ruling on their emergency request by January 6 because they’d need the time "to coordinate with their service providers to perform the complex task of shutting down the TikTok platform only in the US".

The case has made a relatively quick trip through the courts once bipartisan majorities in Congress approved the law and President Joe Biden signed it in April.