TikTok has lost a Supreme Court appeal to keep the social media app for U.S. users. The court upheld a ban enacted by the outgoing Biden administration over national security concerns. But it drew widespread opposition, including from incoming president Donald Trump. Owen Fairclough has more.
TikTok's 170 million monthly U.S. users have lost a creative and commercial lifeline. The Supreme Court upholding a bipartisan law ordering it to effectively shut down in the U.S. after January 19.
A blow for its users and lawyers who appealed the ban, arguing it is a violation of the constitutional right to free speech enshrined in the First Amendment.
NOEL FRANCISCO Lawyer for TikTok "The Supreme Court has repeatedly said speech is not dangerous, and you don't shut down a speech platform because you're worried about speech being dangerous."
But the court sided with the Biden administration's contention that TiktTok is a national security threat, claiming data from TikTok's American users could be handed over to Chinese authorities.
But TikTok insisted it has strong data protection and contributes billions to the U.S. economy, and Beijing accuses Washington of stifling free competition by disguising trade protectionism as a national security threat. And Supreme Court justice Neil Gorsuch felt national security threats were overblown – and amounting to a judicial overreach.
VOICE OF NEIL GORSUCH Associate Justice, US Supreme Court "Isn't that a pretty paternalistic point of view I mean, don't we normally assume that the best remedy for problematic speech is counter-speech."
Incoming President Donald Trump shares that view, backing TikTok once he joined the platform as a presidential candidate.
DONALD TRUMP U.S. President-elect "I said, 'Maybe we gotta keep this sucker around for a little while.'"
TikTok's parent company ByteDance was offered the chance to divest its U.S. operations but argued legal and logistical operations prevented this.
OWEN FAIRCLOUGH U.S. Supreme Court, Washington DC "TikTok has lost in the U.S., then a winner is Xiaohongshu or little red book, a much lesser-known social media app. It's been gaining users fearful of losing TikTok. Owen Fairclough, CGTN, Washington."