A majority of the US Supreme Court is likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States. The ban may come into force as early as January 19, 2025. This was reported by UNN with reference to Associated Press (AP) and CNN.
Details
It is noted that on Friday, January 10, the judges asked pointed questions to the app's lawyers and a group of its content creators, and also heard arguments about the law banning the social network.
The judges did not view the ban law approved by Congress last year as a law that primarily affects the First Amendment, but rather as an attempt to regulate potential foreign control of an app used by 170 million Americans
As a result of the meeting, most judges are likely to uphold the ban, as there are concerns about TikTok's ties to China.
The law, which will restrict the social network's operation in the United States, is set to go into effect on January 19 if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, refuses to sell the app or if the Supreme Court does not decide to intervene and temporarily block the law itself.
Earlier, the US Congress stated that this law is necessary because ByteDance is controlled by the Chinese government and its ability to collect huge amounts of personal information of American users poses a threat to national security.
Two U.S. presidents, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, have also expressed concerns in the past about both the manipulation of content on the platform and its data collection methods
At the same time, TikTok claims that these fears are speculative and rejects any suggestion that the Chinese government plays any role in the election of cat videos, recipes, and news that millions of Americans watch on the app.
Recall
The District of Columbia and 13 US states have filed lawsuits against TikTok, accusing it of causing addiction and negatively affecting teenagers. The states claim that the platform uses algorithms to increase the time spent by children.