US Supreme Court agrees to hear arguments on TikTok ban

WASHINGTON

The US Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to hear an appeal from TikTok on a law that could ban the social media app in the US.

In a brief unsigned order, the court gave the company and prosecutors until Dec. 27 to file their initial briefs ahead of oral arguments scheduled for Jan. 10. At issue is whether the law violates the First Amendment's free speech provisions.

TikTok on Monday asked the Supreme Court to hear its appeal with less than a month to go before a ban passed by Congress in April and signed by President Joe Biden is set to take effect. The law, known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, requires TikTok to be sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, or face a US ban, citing national security concerns.

TikTok has yet to do so, and the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit unanimously upheld the law earlier this month, saying it does not violate the First Amendment.

A pair of senior lawmakers penned a letter to Google and Apple on Friday, informing them that they must remove TikTok from their app stores by Jan. 19.

Reps. John Moolenaar and Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Republican and Democrat on the House of Representatives Select Committee and the CCP, respectively, told Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai that "Congress has provided ample time—233 days and counting—for the company to take the necessary steps to comply with the law and pursue a divestment that protects U.S. national security."

The CCP is an acronym that refers to the Chinese Communist Party, China's ruling party.