Possible Sale
ByteDance has insisted it won’t consider a sale, though the imminence of the ban could prompt the company to reconsider. Chinese officials are evaluating a potential option that involves Elon Musk acquiring the U.S. operations of TikTok, Bloomberg News has reported.
Any sale would require approval from Trump, who would have to determine whether the deal would remove the app from Chinese control. The law also says the president can put the ban on hold if he certifies to Congress that ByteDance has agreed to a qualifying sale. Trump once supported a ban but now says he opposes one.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed TikTok Friday as part of a pre-inauguration conversation.
Biden administration officials have indicated they are unlikely to enforce the law before Trump’s inauguration on Monday. President Joe Biden signed the measure into law in April after it won approval from a bipartisan majority in Congress.
At the Supreme Court, the Biden administration defended the law as a national security imperative, saying that continuing Chinese control of TikTok will let a foreign adversary spread propaganda, covertly manipulate the platform and collect Americans’ data for espionage or blackmail purposes.
National Security
The companies contended that foreign influence concerns are unfounded, arguing that TikTok Inc. is an American company incorporated and headquartered in California.
A group of content creators also urged the court to strike down the law, saying a ban would strip millions of Americans of their ability to speak to and hear from communities they have come to value.
The court said those interests weren’t enough to override the national-security concerns.
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the court said. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national-security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
The Jan. 10 argument strongly suggested the court would uphold the law. Justice Neil Gorsuch was the only member to suggest skepticism during that session, and even he voted to uphold the measure, though he didn’t join the full court’s reasoning Friday.
“At this time and under these constraints, the problem appears real and the response to it not unconstitutional,” Gorsuch wrote.
The Supreme Court put the case on a fast track after TikTok and the content creators asked for the ban to be put on hold temporarily. The justices instead scheduled a special session that gave them time to issue a definitive ruling on the law’s constitutionality before Jan. 19.
The cases are TikTok v. Garland, 24-656, and Firebaugh v. Garland, 24-657.
—Bloomberg News