Supreme Court Says TikTok Can Be Banned

India-West News Desk

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Supreme Court on January 17 upheld a new law that could result in the shutdown of the widely popular social media platform TikTok in the U.S. as early as January 19. The court issued a unanimous, unsigned opinion, affirming a lower court’s decision and stating that the provisions of the law do not violate TikTok’s First Amendment rights.

The ruling comes just days before the law, passed by Congress with bipartisan support in April 2024, is set to take effect. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act requires TikTok to either divest from its parent company, ByteDance, or face removal from U.S. app stores and hosting services.

While acknowledging the app’s role as a unique platform for over 170 million Americans, the court’s opinion emphasized the government’s national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and its ties to China. “Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address well-supported national security concerns,” the court stated. It argued that the law’s provisions, aimed at preventing China from accessing U.S. user data, serve an important government interest without unduly limiting free expression.

In response, President-elect Donald Trump expressed his expectations on Truth Social, stating that the ruling was “expected” and announcing plans to review the situation further before making a decision on TikTok.

Federal officials have voiced concerns that China could use TikTok to gather vast amounts of data on U.S. users and potentially manipulate the platform’s content to sow division in the country. The law aims to counter these risks by either forcing TikTok to separate from ByteDance or blocking the app entirely.