America

Supreme Court upholds law that bans TikTok in the US if it is not sold by its Chinese parent company

Supreme Court upholds law that bans TikTok in the US if it is not sold by its Chinese parent company

The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the federal law that bans TikTok starting Sunday unless it is sold by its China-based parent company, holding that the national security risk posed by its ties to China outweighs concerns. about limiting the app’s free speech or its 170 million users in the United States.

A sale does not appear imminent, and while experts have said the app will not disappear from existing users’ phones once the law goes into effect on January 19, new users will not be able to download it and updates will not be available. That will eventually render the app inoperative, the Justice Department said in court papers.

The decision came against the backdrop of unusual political turmoil from President-elect Donald Trump, who promised he could negotiate a solution, and President Joe Biden’s administration, which has signaled it will not enforce the law starting Sunday, its last full day in office.

Trump, mindful of TikTok’s popularity and his own 14.7 million followers on the app, finds himself on the opposite side of the argument from prominent Senate Republicans who blame TikTok’s Chinese owner for failing to find a buyer before now. Trump said in a post on Truth Social shortly before the decision was issued that TikTok was among the topics of his Friday conversation with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

It is unclear what options are open to Trump once he is sworn in as president on Monday. The law allowed for a 90-day pause on enforcement restrictions if progress had been made toward a sale before it took effect.

Attorney General Elizabeth Prelogar, who defended the law on the Supreme Court for the Democratic Biden administration, told the justices last week that it is not certain whether the prospect of a sale once the law takes effect could trigger a reprieve. 90 days for TikTok.

“Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-founded national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and its relationship with a foreign adversary,” the court said in an unsigned opinion. adding that the law “does not violate the petitioners’ First Amendment rights.”

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch filed brief separate opinions in which they noted some reservations about the court’s decision but agreed with the result.

[Con información de The Associated Press]

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