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Washington — The Supreme Court announced on Thursday that it may release opinions on Friday morning, an unexpected update just days ahead of a law poised to ban TikTok in the United States.
A notice on the court’s official website indicated that opinions could be made available starting at 10 a.m., although it did not detail which cases would be addressed. “The Court will not take the Bench,” the announcement stated.
The impending legislation would effectively remove TikTok from U.S. app markets and hosting services unless the platform severs its ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, by the looming deadline of January 19.
During a recent hearing regarding TikTok’s legal challenge, the Supreme Court appeared inclined to endorse the law, as justices seemed to support the government’s stance that TikTok may facilitate data gathering for the Chinese government, posing risks to American users’ privacy and security.
Noel Francisco, representing TikTok and ByteDance, remarked that a potential Supreme Court ruling could have “enormous consequences” for the platform’s 170 million American users and their rights to free expression.
Francisco warned that if the law is not suspended or annulled by Sunday, the platform would “go dark.” He clarified that TikTok would no longer be available for download in U.S. app stores under such circumstances.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar emphasized that the “unprecedented amounts” of user data collected by TikTok could be exploited by the Chinese government as a means of “harassment, recruitment, and espionage.” She referenced numerous data breaches attributed to Chinese actors over the past decade, including a significant hack of the Office of Personnel Management that exposed millions of federal employees’ information.
“For years, the Chinese government has aimed to create comprehensive profiles on Americans, including their residences, workplaces, social connections, interests, and behaviors,” Prelogar stated.
In April, Congress passed the bipartisan Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, embedded within a foreign aid bill, which President Biden signed into law. This legislation provides TikTok with a window of nine months to disassociate from ByteDance, with the possibility of a 90-day extension if a sale attempt is underway by the January deadline. If TikTok fails to facilitate a sale, it will be cut off from U.S. app stores and web hosting services.
Concerns about TikTok’s affiliations with China have been raised by lawmakers and intelligence agencies, who argue that these concerns have merit given that Chinese national security laws compel organizations to assist government intelligence efforts.
In May, TikTok and ByteDance initiated a legal challenge against the law, describing it as “an extraordinary and unconstitutional assertion of power” based on “speculative and analytically flawed fears regarding data security and content manipulation,” which they contend would suppress the speech of millions of Americans.
A federal appeals court upheld the law in December, determining that the U.S. government was acting to protect freedoms from a foreign adversary and to limit its data-gathering capabilities concerning American citizens. Shortly after, the appeals court rejected TikTok’s request to postpone the law’s implementation while awaiting a Supreme Court review.
On December 16, TikTok sought a temporary suspension from the Supreme Court, arguing it would face “immediate irreparable harm” if the ban were not delayed. The Supreme Court responded two days later, agreeing to hear the challenge to the law under an expedited process.
The U.S. Supreme Court
More developments on this situation are expected as the Court prepares to make its opinions public.
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