TikTok appeals to supreme court against US ban

The appeal, which was filed on Monday 16^th December, seeks to prevent a law passed earlier this year coming into force that would require TikTok’s sale in order for the company to continue operating in the US.

TikTok’s argument against the law and proposed ban is that it would contravene the first amendment of the US constitution, which broadly covers the right to freedom of speech.

The law was signed into law in April by US president Joe Biden after being proposed by the US congress and sets a deadline of 19^th January to agree its sale to a non-Chinese company or face a ban.

TikTok is owned by Chinese firm Bytedance and has faced accusations from some politicians about its links to the Chinese government, and avoided a previous attempt to ban the app during Donald Trump’s first presidency.

However, TikTok has repeatedly denied it is under Chinese government influence and has said it operates independently.

The social media platform, which has 170 million users in the US, has headquarters in Singapore and Los Angeles and says that its US user data is handled by US firm Oracle.

A previous appeal by TikTok to the US Court of Appeal saw the court decide to uphold the law, arguing that the divestment mandate in the law would survive an appeal under the first amendment.

A TikTok spokesperson said: “The supreme court has an established record of upholding Americans’ right to free speech. Today, TikTok is asking the court to do what it has traditionally done in free speech cases: apply the most rigorous scrutiny to speech bans and conclude that it violates the first amendment.

“The TikTok ban results in a massive and unprecedented censorship of over 170 million Americans on 19^th January 2025. Estimates show that small businesses on TikTok would lose more than $1bn in revenue and creators would suffer almost $300m in lost earnings in just one month unless the ban is halted.”