Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok in US, but why?

The US Supreme Court has upheld the lower court judgement that banned TikTok in the United States on national security grounds, rejecting an appeal. The app’s owners claimed the ban violated the First Amendment.

The controversial ban on TikTok may take effect this weekend if ByteDance, the Chinese parent company, does not sell the short-video app by Sunday, as, in a unanimous 9-0 decision, the justices reduced to rescue a platform used by about half of all Americans.

The court issued an unsigned opinion, with no noted dissents.

The decision came after US administration warned that the app posed a national security threat due to its ties to China. The verdict will allow the ban to start on Sunday.

There are numerous unresolved questions over the ban’s practical implementation, as the US government has no precedent blocking a major social media platform.

The law has been passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress and signed by Democratic President Joe Biden last year.

The Supreme Court concluded that the law did not violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech.

The justices affirmed a lower court’s decision to uphold the measure following a challenge by TikTok, ByteDance, and some users.

TikTok offers a means of engagement, a source of community, a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, for 170 million US users, according to the opinion of US SC.

The court said Congress thought that divestiture is essential to address its substantiated national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and its association with a foreign adversary.”