More than 170 million Americans, including Missourians who use TikTok, could lose access to the popular app by the end of the week.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Friday on a federal law passed last year that would force the Chinese-based owners of TikTok to sell the app by January 19th or face a permanent ban. Attorney Jeffrey Fisher argued the anti-TikTok law is unconstitutional.
“Wholly apart from the company’s legal interests here, the act directly restricts the rights, the First Amendment rights of American creators to participate and speak and with a court a little less than a decade ago called the modern public square,” Fisher said.
U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar argued before the High Court that the Chinese government’s control over TikTok’s parent company “poses a grave threat to national security.”
“No one disputes that the (People’s Republic of China) seeks to undermine U.S. interests by amassing vast quantities of sensitive data about Americans, and no one disputes that the PRC pursues those goals by compelling companies like ByteDance to secretly turn over data and carry out PRC directives,” Preloger said.
The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case this week, and multiple media outlets are reporting that the High Court is leaning towards upholding the law. CBS News reports that TikTok plans to shut down the social media site in the U.S. by January 19 unless the Supreme Court strikes down or delays the law from taking effect on that day.
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