By Angela Palumbo
The Supreme Court agreed to hear TikTok's arguments against a law that will ban the social media app in the U.S.
The court said in an order on Wednesday that it will hear oral arguments by TikTok on Jan. 10, nine days before the ban is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 19. A total of two hours is allotted for oral arguments.
"We're pleased with today's Supreme Court order," a TikTok spokesperson told Barron's. "We believe the Court will find the TikTok ban unconstitutional so the over 170 million Americans on our platform can continue to exercise their free speech rights."
Lawmakers passed a bill that President Joe Biden later signed to either have China-based ByteDance divest TikTok or ban the app in the U.S. over the concern that it poses national security risks. TikTok has pushed back on these concerns, stating that it has invested billions of dollars to protect user data.
On Dec. 6, the U.S. Appeals Court denied a petition from TikTok and some of its users that said the ban was an infringement on free speech. TikTok then filed an emergency motion on Dec. 9 for an injunction to stop the ban until the appeal of the decision by the Court of Appeals was heard by the Supreme Court. That was also denied. TikTok then asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block the ban on Dec. 16.
"Congress's unprecedented attempt to single out Applicants and bar them from operating one of the most significant speech platforms in this Nation presents grave constitutional problems that this Court likely won't allow to stand," TikTok said in its Dec. 16 emergency application to the Supreme Court.
Outside of the courts, CNN reported earlier this week that TikTok Chief Executive Shou Chew met with President-elect Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago Monday afternoon, citing people familiar with the matter. Barron's has asked TikTok to confirm or deny whether this meeting took place.
Trump has recently done an about-face on TikTok. He was a critic of TikTok and pressed for a ban during his first term as president. At a press conference on Monday, he said that he has "a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points, and there are those who say TikTok has something to do with that."
Write to Angela Palumbo at angela.palumbo@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 18, 2024 13:41 ET (18:41 GMT)
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