USA: Supreme Court confirms TikTok ban

The impending legal ban on the social media platform TikTok in the US does not violate the constitution, according to a ruling by the Supreme Court. The highest US court rejected the appeal of TikTok operator ByteDance in its ruling published on Friday, thereby confirming the decision of the lower court.

The app claims to have well over 170 million users in the USA. "There is no doubt that TikTok is a unique and pervasive means of personal expression, engagement, and community for more than 170 million Americans," the Supreme Court's ruling states.

"Well-reasoned concerns"

"But Congress found a sale necessary to address its well-founded national security concerns," the court continued. The judges emphasized TikTok's data collections and the company's proximity to a "foreign adversary". The ruling had already become apparent after last week's hearing.

The US Congress had passed a law prohibiting the distribution of "applications controlled by foreign adversaries". The law comes into force on January 19. The application must disappear from the app stores in the USA by then at the latest.

This means that Tiktok is now the problem of the next US president, who takes office on January 20. Like the current administration under Joe Biden, Donald Trump's team has already signaled that TikTok could be postponed.

Sale possible?

ByteDance could have evaded the ban by selling at least its US business. However, it was said that a separation from ByteDance would be technically difficult or even impossible. Nevertheless, there have recently been increasing rumors about a possible sale, with Elon Musk also being traded as a possible buyer.

TikTok rejects the allegations. Instead, the Chinese operator has always taken legal action and has emphasized that banning the platform would violate the freedom of opinion and speech protected by the US Constitution.

(vbr)