The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will listen to arguments from TikTok and its parent company, Beijing-based Bytedance, on why it should block a law that will ban the popular app from the U.S. in January.
An oral argument was scheduled for January 10 — nine days before the app’s ban is set to go into effect.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Wednesday comes after a lower court last week denied TikTok’s request to review the law, passed by Congress earlier this year, that will boot the app from the States unless it sells off its American operations. After the denial, TikTok filed an emergency injunction with the Supreme Court on Monday.
TikTok has said on multiple occasions that the law tramples on the First Amendment rights of its 170 million monthly users.
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“Congress’ 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 will not allow to stand,” TikTok’s lawyers wrote in the Monday filing, obtained by TheWrap.
The chief concern U.S. lawmakers have with TikTok is that it doubles as a spyware app for the Chinese government; TikTok, according to Chinese law, is required to share user data with China’s communist government, if it is asked to do so.
Most Americans don’t seem to be too concerned with China’s government having easy access to their data, though. Only 32% of Americans are in favor of the U.S. government banning TikTok, according to a Pew Research Center survey in September of 10,678 respondents aged 18 and older.
In Monday’s legal filing, TikTok’s lawyers argued the app’s close ties to China’s government do not warrant a ban. “Strict scrutiny applies here just as it would if Congress banned a specified American citizen from operating a particular American newspaper merely because a foreign nation might be able to control what he printed or misuse his subscriber data,” the filing stated.
The Supreme Court’s decision on Wednesday is a welcome turn of events for TikTok, which has been working tirelessly in recent months to fend off the looming ban.
TikTok has pointed to President-elect Donald Trump’s comment earlier this year that he was going to “save TikTok” as one reason the courts should temporarily block the ban until he reenters the White House. Trump’s inauguration is set for Jan. 20, 2025 — a day after the ban will take place.
The TikTok ban was initially floated during Trump’s first administration, before ultimately being passed by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden in April.
Trump, during a press conference on Monday, reiterated he’d like to keep TikTok in the U.S. He said he’d “take a look” at saving TikTok, noting he had a “warm spot” in his heart for it because it helped get young people to vote for him.
Later that day, Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to multiple reports.
