Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Ban, But Biden Says He Won’t Enforce It

By Alex Willemyns

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a ban on the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok, as the Biden administration said it won’t enforce the law set to take effect on Sunday, its last day in office.

President-elect Donald Trump, who has opposed the ban and will be inaugurated on Monday, told CNN in the aftermath of the decision that he would reveal his own decision once in office.

“It ultimately goes up to me, so you’re going to see what I’m going to do,” Trump said, according to a CNN report. “Congress has given me the decision, so I’ll be making the decision.”

The Biden administration said TikTok’s owner ByteDance should sell the app to an American buyer to avoid the ban, but that it would not enforce the ban given the coming transition of power.

“Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday,” the White House said in a statement.

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision but did not comment directly on how enforcement of the law would now be handled.

“The next phase of this effort — implementing and ensuring compliance with the law after it goes into effect on January 19 — will be a process that plays out over time,” Monaco said in a statement.

A unanimous opinion released by the Supreme Court upheld a decision from a federal appeals court that the law, passed in April but set to take effect Sunday, did not violate constitutional rights to freedom of speech.

“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 opinion 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.”

“For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights,” the opinion said.

TikTok did not respond directly to a request for comment on its immediate plans. A spokesperson for the company instead sent a link to a TikTok videoposted by the company’s CEO, Shou Chew, who indicated the company would continue operating as usual.

“On behalf of everyone at TikTok and all our users across the country, I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States,” he said.

“This is a strong stand for the First Amendment and against arbitrary censorship,” he said. 

“We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a president who truly understands our platform, one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content.”

National security concerns

In April, President Joe Biden signed legislation supported by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress that required TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app or face a ban in the United States.

U.S. lawmakers expressed concerns the app could allow China to collect sensitive information on Americans and allow Beijing to feed them misinformation. TikTok has denied any connections to the CCP and says a ban would violate the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

ByteDance, meanwhile, said it wasn’t interested in the sale required by the law.

The deadline for divestiture is Sunday, just one day before Trump takes office. In a brief filed to the court in December, Trump’s nominee for solicitor general asked for a delay in the ruling. News reports have said Trump is considering issuing an executive order to delay the ban.

The legislation, which was the culmination of years of debate over TikTok and Chinese influence in the United States, prompted a broad lobbying and public relations campaign, which some of TikTok’s estimated 170 million users in the U.S. joined in favor of the app.

As the Supreme Court deliberated, TikTok users registered their opposition to the legislation by downloading Xiaohongshu, which translates as “little red book.” another social media platform developed by a Chinese company, even though it doesn’t have a U.S. version.