THE Supreme Court has ruled to uphold a federal law to ban TikTok in the United States as President Joe Biden leaves the platform’s future in the hands of the incoming administration.
The legislation, passed by Congress and signed into law by the president last April, will prohibit tech giants such as Apple, Google, and Oracle from hosting TikTok on their US app stores.
The Supreme Court has issued its ruling on a federal law that would ban TikTok in the United States[/caption]
The law would not immediately force TikTok from going dark on smartphones nationwide, however, tech companies that continue hosting them on their US app store could face penalties
Under the legislation, the Department of Justice could fine each user up to $5,000, according to ABC News.
However, TikTok has signaled that it would shutdown US operations on Sunday, barring a last-minute resolution.
On Thursday, President Biden changed course and said his administration did not plan to take immediate action against TikTok once the law goes into effect on Sunday, according to the Associated Press.
“Our position on this has been clear: TikTok should continue to operate under American ownership,” a White House official told ABC News.
“Given the timing of when it goes into effect over a holiday weekend a day before inauguration, it will be up to the next administration to implement.”
Nevertheless, if President Biden, or President-elect Donald Trump, do enforce the ban promptly, tech companies will still be affected as long as TikTok is owned by ByteDance.
TikTok exploded in popularity among young Americans in 2020 as the Covid-19 virus spread globally, forcing health officials to implement lockdown orders and encourage social distancing regulations.
The video-sharing app hosts about 170 million users in the United States.
However, US lawmakers, including then-President Donald Trump, raised concerns about the platform, citing national security issues given TikTok’s parent company ByteDance’s Chinese ownership.
Lawmakers on both sides have cited classified briefings that suggest the Chinese Communist Party is able to use TikTok to spy on American users and push propaganda.
National Security officials have briefed politicians on Capitol Hill about the dangers of the social media platform and its “frightening” ability to “access, track, and store” users’ personal data, according to Axios.
The bill, which swiftly passed the House and Congress last April, sought to separate TikTok from ByteDance by forcing the Chinese-owned tech company to sell the app to a US organization.
President Joe Biden signed a law requiring ByteDance to either sell TikTok to a US company by January 19, 2025, or the app would be banned in the country.
After a failed challenge with a US Court of Appeals in Washington DC in early December, TikTok took the fight to the Supreme Court, saying the law violates its free speech rights under the First Amendment.
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