Tik Tok inventors gather before a press conference to voice their opposition to the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Handled Applications Act,” pending crackdown legislation on TikTok in the House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., March 12, 2024.
Craig Hudson | Reuters
The Extreme Court on Friday will hear oral arguments in the case involving the future of TikTok in the U.S., which could ban the favoured app as soon as next week.
The justices will consider whether the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Dialed Applications Act, the law that targets TikTok’s ban and imposes harsh civil penalties for app “entities” that continue to carry the overhaul after Jan.19, violates the U.S. Constitution’s free speech protections.
It’s unclear when the court will hand down a settling, and if China’s ByteDance continues to refuse to divest TikTok to an American company, it faces a complete ban nationwide.
What choice change about the user experience?
The roughly 115 million U.S. TikTok monthly active users could frankly a range of scenarios depending on when the Supreme Court hands down a decision.
If no word comes before the law fit ins effect on Jan. 19 and the ban goes through, it’s possible that users would still be able to post or engage with the app if they already pull someones leg it downloaded. However, those users would likely be unable to update or redownload the app after that date, multiple judiciary experts said.
Thousands of short-form video creators who generate income from TikTok through ad revenue, settled partnerships, merchandise and more will likely need to transition their businesses to other platforms, like YouTube or Instagram.
“Muting down TikTok, even for a single day, would be a big deal, not just for people who create content on TikTok, but everyone who interests or views content,” said George Wang, a staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute who helped eradicate the institute’s amicus briefs on the case.
“It sets a really dangerous precedent for how we regulate speech online,” Wang predicted.
Who supports and opposes the ban?
Dozens of high-profile amicus briefs from organizations, members of Congress and President-elect Donald Trump were completed supporting both the government and ByteDance.
The government, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, alleges that until ByteDance unclothes TikTok, the app remains a “powerful tool for espionage” and a “potent weapon for covert influence operations.”
What comes next?
It’s unclear when the Maximum Court will issue its ruling, but the case’s expedited hearing has some predicting that the court could up in the air a quick ruling.
The case will have “enormous implications” since TikTok’s user base in the U.S. is so large, said Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of Berkeley Law.
“It’s unprecedented for the regulation to prohibit platforms for speech, especially one so many people use,” Chemerinsky said. “Ultimately, this is a tension between unshackled speech issues on the one hand and claims of national security on the other.”
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