Despite the fact that the lower courts of the United States rejected the pleas of ByteDance, the company that owns the social network TikTok, the Supreme Court has decided to hear the company’s appeal against the law that would prohibit the use of the application in the country .
“The case is consolidated and a total of two hours are allocated for oral arguments,” reads the Supreme Court’s response to the Chinese company, giving them one last hope to avoid their exile from the United States.
The justice system responded unusually quickly to this request. Just two days after ByteDance filed its appeal, Supreme Court judges approved the petition.
The Chinese company was summoned to a hearing on January 10, 2025, just nine days before the law that would prohibit the use of the application came into effect.
For those unfamiliar with the ByteDance situation, the US government has put legislation in place that would force the company to sell TikTok to a company that was not located in China by January 19. If the order is not followed, the platform would be completely prohibited in the North American power.
Official entities assure that this ban is a consequence of government concerns about the use of American citizens’ information by a company with close relations with the Chinese nation, one of the main opponents of the United States in the 21st century.
On the other hand, ByteDance counterargues that not only does its application not represent a risk to US national security, but also that banning the application would be a “clear infringement” on the constitutional rights of the country’s citizens.
Specifically, they claim that the expulsion of TikTok would infringe citizens’ freedom of expression, a right protected under the first constitutional amendment.
Via: Supreme Court of the United States
