The future of TikTok as Americans know it is now in the hands of the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices.
On Friday, they heard arguments about a law that would force ByteDance, the app's parent company, to sell the platform to a U.S.-owned company or cease operations in the company on Jan. 19.
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was passed with bipartisan support in February. Lawmakers expressed concern that the Chinese government could force Bytedance, a Chinese company, to share user data and manipulate algorithms to influence U.S. public opinion.
“For the Chinese government to have this vast trove of incredibly sensitive data about them, I think, obviously exposes our nation as a whole to a risk of espionage and blackmail,” Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the Supreme Court.
TikTok's lawyers framed their argument around the first amendment, saying it violates the rights of its 170 million U.S. users.
"It means the government cannot restrict speech in order to protect us,” said attorney Noel Francisco. “That’s precisely what this law does from beginning to end.”
Justice Elena Kagan rebutted that argument at one point during the hourslong hearing.
“The law is only targeted at this foreign corporation, which doesn’t have First Amendment rights,” she said.
Justice Neil Gorsuch asked if TikTok would be willing to sell if it had time — past the Jan. 19 deadline. Francisco essentially said that a sale is unlikely "under any time frame.”
The justices, who appeared to favor the government's position, did not signal when a ruling would be released.
