Washington TikTok’s appeal against a government law that might ban the well-known social media app by next month will be heard by the Supreme Court, the court announced Wednesday.
The court took action a day after TikTok submitted its appeal, and it will decide whether to halt the law after hearing oral arguments on January 10.
The matter at hand is a bipartisan bill that was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden. It would take effect on January 19, the day before Donald Trump, the next president, takes office.
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act would force ByteDance, the Chinese corporation that owns TikTok, to sell the platform to an American business or risk being banned.
TikTok has contested the regulation, claiming it infringes upon its First Amendment right to free speech.
The court did not temporarily prohibit the statute in the order indicating it would take up the case.
In order to let the more than 170 million Americans who use our platform to continue exercising their right to free speech, we think the Court will rule that the TikTok restriction is unlawful,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.
The Justice Department has not yet provided the court with its legal justifications for the law due to the hasty decision to take up the issue.
The court may have allowed itself time to reach a decision at an exceptionally rapid pace before the statute is set to take effect and before Trump assumes office by hearing the argument on January 10.
The Justice Department has defended the statute on national security grounds in a lower court, citing worries about the company’s potential for influence by the Chinese government.
The statute was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which determined that the government’s national security arguments—such as worries that the Chinese government would obtain user data about Americans and possibly alter app content—were valid.
Trump has altered his mind after attempting to outlaw TikTok during his first administration. He spoke with the CEO of the company on Monday and stated that he had a “warm spot” for the platform.
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