FILE - The TikTok logo appears on a smartphone screen with the United States flag in the background in this illustration photo on Dec. 28, 2024. (Photo by Jaque Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments from TikTok over a federal law that could ban the popular app in the United States if its parent company, ByteDance, fails to sell the platform.
TikTok and China-based ByteDance, as well as content creators and users, argue the law is a dramatic violation of the Constitution’s free speech guarantee.
"Rarely if ever has the court confronted a free-speech case that matters to so many people," lawyers for the users and content creators wrote. Content creators are anxiously awaiting a decision that could upend their livelihoods and are eyeing other platforms.
Federal judges in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld the law on Dec. 6, then rejected an emergency plea to delay the legislation going into effect.
When will the potential ban take place?
If the government prevails as it did in a lower court, TikTok says it would shut down its U.S. platform by Jan. 19, leaving creators scrambling to redefine their futures.
What can SCOTUS do?
The Supreme Court could either decide to allow the federal law to take place or potentially delay the effective date further.
As it weighs the case, the court will have to decide what level of review it applies to the law.
Under the most searching review, strict scrutiny, laws almost always fail. But two judges on the appellate court that upheld the law said it would be the rare exception that could withstand strict scrutiny.
TikTok, the app’s users and many briefs supporting them urge the court to apply strict scrutiny to strike down the law.
But the Democratic administration and some of its supporters cite restrictions on foreign ownership of radio stations and other sectors of the economy to justify the effort to counter Chinese influence in the TikTok ban.
Trump urges SCOTUS to delay decision
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Trump asks Supreme Court to delay start of TikTok ban
President-elect Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court on Friday to pause the potential TikTok ban from going into effect until his administration can pursue a "political resolution" to the issue. LiveNOW's Austin Westfall breaks it down with Attorney Katie Charleston, a corporate law expert.
President-elect Donald Trump filed an amicus brief asking the nation’s highest court to extend deadlines that could force the popular platform to shut down.
Trump argued he holds "a particularly powerful interest in and responsibility for those national-security and foreign-policy questions" as the incoming president, according to the court filing.
The brief states Trump received "a powerful electoral mandate" to protect free speech rights, including those of TikTok's American users.
If the law takes effect, Trump’s Justice Department will be charged with enforcing it. Lawyers for TikTok and ByteDance have argued that the new administration could seek to mitigate the law’s most severe consequences.
What will happen to the app if it’s banned?
If TikTok ends up banned in the U.S., the impact could be seismic: It’s unclear just how many content creators rely on TikTok for income – and how many of those consider it their primary jobs.
If the law is not overturned, more than 170 million American users would be affected, the companies have said.
The Source: Information for this article was gathered from The Associated Press and previous reporting from LiveNOW from FOX. This story was reported from Los Angeles.