The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear arguments by TikTok that a law that could lead to a ban of the popular social media app violates free speech protections in the U.S. Constitution.
The Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments in the case for Jan. 10, nine days before the law, formally known as the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, is set to take effect.
The law would require TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app or force Google, Apple, and other platforms to stop supporting the app in the United States.
Congress passed the law due to concerns that TikTok’s Chinese ownership presented a national security risk.
The Supreme Court announcement that it will take TikTok’s appeal came two days after the company filed a petition requesting an injunction against the law taking effect next month.
The court in its order directed the company and the Department of Justice to brief and argue the question of whether the law as applied to TikTok “violates the First Amendment” of the Constitution.
TikTok in its request to the court had said, “Congress’s unprecedented attempt to single out applicants and bar them from operating one of the most significant speech platforms in this nation presents grave constitutional problems that this court likely will not allow to stand.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the law on Dec. 6, ruling that the DOJ had “offered persuasive evidence demonstrating that” the divestment law “is narrowly tailored to protect national security.”
President-elect Donald Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida on Monday, the same day that the company asked the Supreme Court to take its case.
Trump earlier that day told reporters, “We’ll take a look at TikTok,” when asked about the potential ban.
“You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” Trump said, suggesting that the app had boosted support for him from young voters during the election in November.
Jeff Yass, one of Trump’s major backers, is the co-founder and managing director of Susquehanna International Group, a significant investor in ByteDance.
– CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this article.
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