SCOTUS upholds the TikTok divest-or-ban law, says free speech rights must yield to concerns that Chinese control of the app creates a national-security risk

The Supreme Court upheld a law that threatens to shut down the wildly popular TikTok social media platform in the US as soon as Sunday …

Bloomberg 2025-01-17 Greg Stohr

Discussion

@nytceciliakang Cecilia Kang on bluesky
TikTok's only lifeline was Trump stepping in asap. He just posted that he needs time to review the situation and that he'll make a decision in the “not too distant future,” which is absolutely not the vague timeline TikTok wanted.
@lucas.meyerperin.org Lucas A. Meyer on bluesky
I think that TikTok is likely to be owned by Musk on Monday. This may be a very effective way to keep using TikTok for anti American propaganda, if it is not directly pro-CCP propaganda.
@trevor Trevor Croker on bluesky
One thing is for sure, SCOTUS just raised the stakes for the cage match on the inauguration dais
@caseynewton Casey Newton on bluesky
This may be our first case in Trump 2.0 where Congress and the courts say one thing and then Trump just does whatever he wants
@authormattrouse.hookdm.com Matt Rouse on bluesky
It guess the clock has run out for Tik Tok for now... And people are flocking from X and Meta, so @bsky.app is about to get another big boost. — Quick! Start making vertical video skits and pretending they are IRL! Make up a dance to part of a song! Cooking demos slapping in…
@ebakerwhite Emily Baker-White on bluesky
Here, SCOTUS dodges the heart of the argument before it — whether the US gov can manipulate the speech ecosystem to stop the CN gov from manipulating the speech ecosystem. Instead, they say, there's no reason to believe the speech ecosystem rationale was necessary to Congress pa…
@menaganey Mena Ganey on bluesky
Zuck and Musk bought Clarence a G5. [embedded post]
@willoremus.com Will Oremus on bluesky
I said in my first post that the court “ruled” that the law implicates the First Amendment. On closer read, that's not quite right. The court “assume[d] without deciding” that the law implicates the First Amendment, and concluded that even if it does, only intermediate scrutiny…
@willoremus.com Will Oremus on bluesky
The Supreme Court upholds the TikTok ban. — Legally speaking, the opinion seems straightforward: The court ruled that the law does implicate the First Amendment, but because it is “content-neutral,” it merits only “intermediate scrutiny,” not the much higher bar of “strict scru…
@klonick Kate Klonick on bluesky
SCOTUS TikTok decision just dropped. — TikTok Ban will go into effect on Sunday, January 19, 2025. — Per curiam opinion with Sotoymayor and Gorsuch writing separate concurrences — www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/ 24p...
@christopherterry Christopher Terry on bluesky
Well, just in time to add it to the syllabus. — www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/ 24p... Folks better start getting ready to see this approach...often: [image]
@mjsdc Mark Joseph Stern on bluesky
The Supreme Court also declines to consider “classified evidence,” which the government refused to show the public, that allegedly supported the ban, relying on publicly available information instead. (Gorsuch had concerns about this at argument and supports the court's approach…
@mjsdc Mark Joseph Stern on bluesky
The Supreme Court holds that strict scrutiny does NOT apply to the TikTok ban, applying intermediate scrutiny instead. And the court relies SOLELY on Congress' argument that TikTok gives the Chinese govt access to private data, declining to endorse the “covert manipulation of co…
@mjsdc Mark Joseph Stern on bluesky
The Supreme Court UPHOLDS the TikTok ban with no noted dissents, turning away a First Amendment challenge: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/ 24p...
@chancehmiller Chance Miller on threads
Biden admin on Supreme Court's TikTok decision today: “Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday.” If only someone had looked at a calendar nine month…
@pamelabrowncnn Pamela Brown on x
PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP REACTS TO SUPREME COURT DECISION ON TIKTOK: “It ultimately goes up to me, so you're going to see what I'm going to do,” Trump tells me in a brief phone call. He goes on: “Congress has given me the decision, so I'll be making the decision.” He did not
@amir Amir Efrati on x
few realize that TikTok's secret change to content moderation rules—including allowing claims that Trump won the 2020 election—is what's going to save the app [image]
@adamkovac Adam Kovacevich on x
TikTok Predictions: 1. No last ditch ByteDance effort to sell 2. No 90 day extension (requires effort by ByteDance, see #1; plus law prob doesn't let Trump do it) 3. Trump announces non-enforcement EO - but Google and Apple decide legal/fine risk too great to trust it 4. TT shuts
@matthewstoller Matt Stoller on x
This opinion is a rejection of an ever expanding corporate First Amendment. “Petitioners, for their part, have not identified any case in which this Court has treated a regulation of corporate control as a direct regulation of expressive activity or semi-expressive conduct.”
@pitdesi Sheel Mohnot on x
Interesting that the market isn't pricing in any benefit to Meta if TikTok gets banned. They stand to gain most IMO— look at IG Reels in India after TikTok left. Competitors popped up, but Reels dominated. India became IG's biggest market, jumped from 50M DAUs to 220M! [image]
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
Republicans are happy to talk about banning TikTok. Not so excited to talk about Trump unbanning TikTok. Via @PunchbowlNews https://punchbowl.news/... [image]
@fromedome Dan Frommer on x
Even among daily users of TikTok, fewer than half think no, the Chinese government is not using TikTok's content recommendation algorithm to make Americans feel more socially and politically divided. [image]
@dannyctkemp Danny Kemp on x
Dear Donald, TikTok is your problem. Cheers, Joe [image]
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
All that said: If Trump did just ignore the ban or try to overturn it with an order, who would challenge him in court?
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
The Court didn't take up the issue of whether Trump could overturn the law with a congressional order, as @RichLightShed argues. But it did note multiple times that the government's argument that ByteDance-owned TikTok could be a security threat is convincing.
@pkafka Peter Kafka on x
The law is clear that once the ban goes into Sunday, it can't be undone unless ByteDance sells off U.S. TikTok. https://www.businessinsider.com/ ...
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
Lot of people in the U.S. seem to assume that ByteDance=TikTok, but reality is that ByteDance has a lot of other assets. Including a TikTok clone of sorts in China. Losing TikTok would hurt ByteDance, but wouldn't kill it.
@rakeshsfnyc Rakesh Agrawal on x
The rare US law that has meaningful penalties: app stores and cloud providers have strong incentive to comply with the ban on TikTok. those companies would pay penalties as high as $5k per user who is able to gain access to the app inside the US if the ban takes effect.
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
This is not how the law is written. It's just not.
@appcensorship @appcensorship on x
🚨 Banning TikTok sets a dangerous precedent for censorship. ❌ It mirrors tactics of authoritarian regimes. ❌ It fragments the global internet. ❌ It distracts from real tech reforms like privacy laws. Censorship isn't the answer. Protect digital rights. #NoTikTokBan
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
The law on TikTok is very clear. Including a mandate to enforce. If Trump doesn't enforce, then it raises some pretty big constitutional questions (true also of Biden, but only for 12 hours). https://www.axios.com/...
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
Senate staffer to me this morning: “ByteDance now knows we're serious about banning it.” I almost spit out my coffee.
@mikesacksesq Mike Sacks on x
At least Congress and SCOTUS didn't buy into what was a super gross (like, SUPER gross) influence campaign
@jason_kint Jason Kint on x
The most undercovered story about to happen is the $100 million of advertising spend that may need a new home starting in 48 hours. That desire and demand creation is what fuels the entire business. There will be other homes for it.
@kevinbankston Kevin Bankston on x
The fact we're getting this garbage 1st am decision deferring to vague natsec fears just as the great TikTok FlipFlop has both parties backing away from the need for a ban shows just how conclusively this court failed in its stated goal in the intro not to “embarrass the future.”
@committeeonccp @committeeonccp on x
BREAKING: Supreme Court has upheld the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act “This... is not a ban on TikTok. It is a pathway to a safer, better TikTok. This is the first step - now it is time to make the deal of the century.” - @RepMoolenaar [vi…
@danielahanley Daniel Hanley on x
Regardless of what one thinks of the actual substance of the ban, for purposes of Congressional power to regulate corporations, this SCOTUS decision is going to be an important opinion for the antimonopoly movement. [image]
@adamkovac Adam Kovacevich on x
What jumped out at me from the SCOTUS ruling: “FOREIGN ADVERSARY CONTROL”: “TikTok's scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the sensitive data the platform collections, justify differential treatment to address the Government's national security [ima…
@mikesacksesq Mike Sacks on x
Sotomayor writes separately to say the law certainly implicates the 1st Amendment (as opposed to just assuming it does), but agrees the ban is constitutional [image]
@sentomcotton Tom Cotton on x
ByteDance and its Chinese Communist masters had nine months to sell TikTok before the Sunday deadline. The very fact that Communist China refuses to permit its sale reveals exactly what TikTok is: a communist spy app. The Supreme Court correctly rejected TikTok's lies and
@adrianweckler Adrian Weckler on x
Yep, Sunday's TikTok ban upheld by US Supreme Court. Still doesn't mean it will actually happen for sure. As it stands, Apple and Google due to delete TikTok from (US) app stores. But if they're given assurance that Trump won't prosecute, they may not https://www.independent.ie/.…
@mikesacksesq Mike Sacks on x
The unsigned opinion applies intermediate scrutiny to say the ban doesn't violate the 1st Amendment [image]
@geoffreyfowler Geoffrey A. Fowler on x
Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban set to start on Sunday. Trump has promised to save TikTok — now the question is how? https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
@ali_lev Alexandra S. Levine on x
BREAKING ON TIKTOK: The Supreme Court has ruled to UPHOLD the TikTok divest-or-ban law, clearing the way for a potential nationwide shutdown on Sunday. Several moving parts that could change how this shakes out. News coming from @GregStohr @KurtWagner8 @business and me
@willguyatt Will Guyatt on x
Does Trump refuse to ban it? Does the law get ignored? What a bloody mess. I'm unpacking this on radio and tv over next few hours
@richlightshed @richlightshed on x
#SCOTUS upholds TikTok ban https://www.supremecourt.gov/ ...
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on x
The Tok Tiks Midnight!
Vox Ian Millhiser on x
The Supreme Court's decision upholding the TikTok ban, explained
@karlbode.com Karl Bode on bluesky
this whole thing was such a lose/lose strategic turd by dems — they alienated young voters during en election by banning TikTok (a gift to Facebook), then you don't enforce it, making Trump (who only wants to save TikTok now because a prominent donor of his is a TikTok investor…
@chup.blakereid.org Blake E. Reid on bluesky
It's very interesting that the none of the relevant app store and hosting providers, all of whom are (unlike TikTok) actually directly regulated by the “ban” and have a much more straightforward 1A case than TT or its users, either challenged the bill or have clarified how they'r…
@alanrozenshtein.com Alan Rozenshtein on bluesky
This is unfortunately misleading. No one has to “enforce” the law for it to go into effect. The law just goes into effect on the 19th and Apple, Google, etc. are subject to it. Their lawyers aren't going to act differently because DOJ isn't at their door with fines. abcnews.go…
@shiraovide Shira Ovide on bluesky
So. There's a nearly unanimous belief in DC that TikTok and Chinese technology are dangerous for America, but also they believe it's politically unpalatable to actually do something about it? — www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe...
@kitvincentbooks Kit Vincent on bluesky
If democrats can scrounge 2 brain cell, they'll do everything to stop the TikTok ban. We can't afford to leave social media in Elonia and zuck's clutches — www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on bluesky
Biden realizing that he's given Trump a win by banning TikTok as the literal final move of his presidency.
@brandonfriedman Brandon Friedman on bluesky
This will test everyone's growing sense that laws are no longer real. What's supposed to happen Sunday, by law, is unambiguous in word and spirit. Without Supreme Court intervention or a buyer, TikTok is supposed to shut down. And both administrations are planning to just . . …
@ryanhatesthis Ryan Broderick on bluesky
Hard to overstate how thoroughly played the Biden admin and the Dems were on all of this. No one, at this point, remembers that all of this started as a Trump executive order in 2020. All that will be remembered is that the Democrats couldn't — or wouldn't — save TikTok. [embe…
@fraying Derek Powazek on bluesky
We're all trying to find the guy who signed the law to ban TikTok. 🌭 — www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe...
@bengoggin Ben Goggin on bluesky
Mark Zuckerberg got played — he undertook an intensive effort to shift his and his company's image to the right in an effort to maximally suck up to Trump, and what does he have to show for it now? — Core users are fleeing the platform, and now Biden and Trump look like they'll…
@aterkel Amanda Terkel on bluesky
Deputy White House Chief of Staff Bruce Reed has been a point person on TikTok and has received many calls from people urging the president not to let a ban go into effect, according to two people familiar with the matter. — www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe...
@davechen David Chen on bluesky
They never thought it would actually get banned because they thought it would get sold (because they're morons) www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe...
@petersterne.com Peter Sterne on bluesky
The people who supported the TikTok ban have argued “it's not a ban, since Bytedance could just sell the app” which I had assumed was just a bad-faith attempt to spin an unpopular ban, but it's possible they really were foolish enough to believe that. www.nbcnews.com/politics/joe…
@evacide @evacide on bluesky
Strong “Oops, we voted for Brexit” energy from the Biden administration. Dude, you are the guy who signed the TikTok ban into law. [embedded post]
@senschumer Chuck Schumer on threads
It's clear that more time is needed to find an American buyer for TikTok. We will continue working to keep TikTok alive, protect content creators' livelihoods, protect against CCP surveillance, and protect national security. I will work with the Trump Admin to find a solution.
@tomgara Tom Gara on threads
Such a stunning lack of seriousness in passing such a consequential law and writing it to take effect on the last day before the inauguration of the next president — RE: https://www.threads.net/...
@senmarkey Ed Markey on x
.@SenBooker, @ChrisVanHollen, and I are urging @POTUS to extend the TikTok ban deadline. [image]
@silvermanjacob Jacob Silverman on x
This is pathetic. What was the point? https://www.nbcnews.com/...
@mikeisaac Rat King on x
“it is imperative that we ban this app for national security but also not in a way that can imperil my legacy or party politically” is olympic-level gymnastics [image]
@phillyd Philip DeFranco on x
The Biden Administration's handling of the TikTok Ban looks impressively stupid. 1. Sign the bill that'll ban it without a sale. 2. Sale doesn't happen. 3. Scramble last second to keep it available in the US. 4. Then just lay the problem at Trump's feet? [image]
r/China r on reddit
Biden administration will leave it to Trump to implement TikTok ban
r/technology r on reddit
Biden administration will leave it to Trump to implement TikTok ban
r/politics r on reddit
Biden administration will leave it to Trump to implement TikTok ban
r/neoliberal r on reddit
Biden punts the TikTok ban to Trump
r/nottheonion r on reddit
Biden administration looks for ways to keep TikTok available in the U.S.
r/marketing r on reddit
So where do we think everyone is going to head after TikTok shuts down in the US on Sunday?
r/Fauxmoi r on reddit
Biden administration looks for ways to keep TikTok available in the U.S.
r/politics r on reddit
Biden administration looks for ways to keep TikTok available in the U.S.
r/newliberals r on reddit
Biden administration looks for ways to keep TikTok available in the U.S.
r/technology r on reddit
Biden administration looks for ways to keep TikTok available in the U.S.
r/TheMajorityReport r on reddit
Biden administration looks for ways to keep TikTok available in the U.S.
r/SecretsOfMormonWives r on reddit
TikTok Plans Immediate US Shutdown on Sunday

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SCOTUS upholds the TikTok divest-or-ban law, says free speech rights must yield to concerns that Chinese control of the app creates a national-security risk

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