US Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Ban Law

The US Supreme Court upheld a law on Friday that could result in a ban on TikTok in the United States this Sunday.

“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the court’s unanimous opinion reads. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”

For more than five years, US government officials have tried to ban or force a sale of TikTok, accusing the Chinese-owned company of sharing American user data with the Chinese government and filling feeds with pro-China propaganda. Congress and agencies like the FBI have not provided the public with much information that confirms these allegations, but pursued a variety of different methods to ban TikTok.

Responding to the decision, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew released a video on the platform thanking incoming president Donald Trump for supporting the app. “We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform,” Chew said. “One who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspective connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process.”

Chew did not comment on whether TikTok would officially shut down on Sunday, but said “Rest assured, we will do everything in our power to ensure our platform thrives as your online home for limitless creativity and discovery, as well as a source of inspiration and joy for years to come.”

In 2020, former president Donald Trump first attempted to ban TikTok through a failed executive order. Ultimately, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill on April 24, 2024, requiring TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to an American owner by January 19 or be removed from US app stores. In a rush to stave off the ban, TikTok and a group of creators quickly filed lawsuits against the Justice Department, arguing that the law, the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, violates their First Amendment rights.

In Friday’s oral arguments, TikTok’s lawyer Noel Francisco and Jeffrey Fisher, who represents the creators, attempted to drive home that argument. For the government, solicitor general Elizabeth Prelogar argued that the law did not violate the free speech rights of the defendants, and instead severed the app from ByteDance and Chinese influence.

“Without doubt, the remedy Congress and the President chose here is dramatic,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a concurring opinion. “Whether this law will succeed in achieving its ends, I do not know. A determined foreign adversary may just seek to replace one lost surveillance application with another. As time passes and threats evolve, less dramatic and more effective solutions may emerge.”

In its opinion, the court casts doubt on TikTok’s central argument that the law violated the company’s free speech rights, writing that the “challenged provisions are facially content neutral.” The justices wrote that the law does not appear to regulate the speech of TikTok or its creators, and instead targets the app and ByteDance’s corporate structure.

“It is not clear that the Act itself directly regulates protected expressive activity, or conduct with an expressive component,” the opinion reads. “And it directly regulates Bytedance Ltd. and TikTok only through the divestiture requirements.”

The justices note that their decision should be seen as “narrowly focused” and applies strictly to TikTok. “TikTok’s scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the vast swaths of sensitive data the platform collects, justify differential treatment to address the Government’s national security concerns,” the opinion reads.

The law allows Biden to extend the January 19 deadline an additional 90 days so long as ByteDance is nearing a sale. As of Wednesday, the Biden administration is reportedly searching for ways to save the app, but it has not disclosed anything publicly. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED on Friday. A handful of US-based financiers have lined up to buy the app, including former LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. Kevin O’Leary, or “Mr. Wonderful,” of Shark Tank fame, has signed on to McCourt’s proposal and recently met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

“We have a formal offer on the table with ByteDance. We are ready to work with the company and President Trump to complete a deal. Together, we can transition TikTok to a clean tech stack and turn this national security problem into a big win for Americans,” McCourt said in a statement responding to the decision on Friday.

While rumors have spread that ByteDance could be pursuing a sale with Elon Musk, TikTok and its owner have not confirmed any of these reports.

On Thursday, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer joined a growing chorus of US lawmakers, many of whom voted in favor of the ban, looking to give the company more time to find a suitable buyer.

Despite being the first president to try banning TikTok, incoming president Donald Trump has suggested that he would try to broker a deal that could save the app once he returns to the White House. In an amicus brief filed last month, Trump asked the court to pause the law from going into effect to allow for him to find a “political resolution” to save it. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is reportedly attending Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

Trump said that he spoke with Chinese president Xi Jinping over the phone in a Friday morning Truth Social post. “It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately. We discussed balancing Trade, Fentanyl, TikTok, and many other subjects.”

“The Supreme Court decision was expected, and everyone must respect it,” Trump wrote in another Truth Social post on Friday. “My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!”

“By refusing to block this ban, the Supreme Court is giving the executive branch unprecedented power to silence speech it doesn’t like, increasing the danger that sweeping invocations of ‘national security’ will trump our constitutional rights,” Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Security Project said in a statement on Friday.

Unless TikTok decides to shut down the app on its own, US users will likely be able to use it for at least the near future. The law forbids mobile app stores from providing access to TikTok and would make it difficult for new users to download the app. TikTok will continue to work for users who already have the app on their phone, but they will no longer have access to updates, which could make TikTok glitchier and possibly unusable over time.