Dec. 18 (UPI) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday decided to hear legal arguments over a law that would force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to divest from its stakes in the app or face a ban on U.S. app marketplaces.
The justices are scheduled to begin oral arguments on Jan. 10, just over a week befor the law is set to take effect on Jan. 19.
Opening briefs are to be filed ahead of time by Dec. 27, according to a brief Supreme Court filing.
The court said relevant parties should be prepared to argue if the law does violate the tenants of the First Amendment.
Days ago lawyers for TikTok filed an injunction request to stop the law from taking effect next month.
TikTok contends a ban will violate free speech protections under the U.S. constitution.
“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,” TikTok lawyers wrote in their request for the high court to take the case.
Passed in April and signed by President Joe Biden, the law requires ByteDance — TikTok’s Chinese parent company — to sell the platform or force other companies like Apple or Google to end U.S. support for the app on its own digital platforms. It gives TikTok nine months to divest from ByteDance.
The law was passed by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress over national security fears due to TikTok’s China-based ownership.
President-elect Donald Trump took steps in his first term to ban TikTok but said on Monday ahead of a meeting with TikTok CEO Shou Chew that has a “warm spot” in his heart for the app, citing support from young people in the 2024 presidential election, and said he would “take a look” at the ban.
The law allows the president to issue a one-time extension on the deadline for ByteDance to sell TikTok.
A court document in a recent legal challenge to shut down TikTok’s Canada operations claimed ByteDance is approximately 58%-owned by worldwide investors, 21%-owned by its subsidiaries’ global workforce and 21%-owned by one of its founders — Yiming Zhang, who court documents add resides in Singapore.
Incorporated in 2012, ByteDance Ltd. is a “privately held Cayman Islands company, the subsidiaries of which provide many products and services,” the recent court filing said.
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