TikTok on Monday asked the Supreme Court to intervene on an emergency basis to block a federal law that would have banned the popular platform in the United States unless its China-based parent company agreed to sell it.
Lawyers for the company and China-based ByteDance urged the judges to intervene before the law's January 19 deadline. A similar appeal was expected from content creators who rely on the platform for income and some of TikTok's more than 170 million US users
The companies said a shutdown lasting just a month would result in TikTok losing about a third of its daily users in the US and significant ad revenue.
The case could draw the court's interest because it pits free speech rights against the government's stated goals of protecting national security, while raising new issues about social media platforms.
The request first goes to Chief Justice John Roberts, who oversees emergency appeals from courts in the nation's capital. He will almost certainly seek input from all nine justices.
On Friday, a panel of federal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia District rejected an emergency appeal to block the law, a procedural ruling that allowed the case to go to the Supreme Court.
The same panel had earlier unanimously upheld the law on a First Amendment challenge, claiming it violated free speech rights.
Without the commitment of a court ruling, the law will take effect on January 19 and expose app stores that offer TikTok and web hosting services that support it to possible fines.
It is up to the Department of Justice to enforce the law, investigate potential violations, and seek penalties. But lawyers for TikTok and ByteDance argued that the Justice Department could halt enforcement or otherwise seek to mitigate the law's more serious consequences because President-elect Donald Trump pledged during the campaign to “save the TikTok”.
Trump takes office a day after the law takes effect.
The Supreme Court could temporarily put the law on hold so it can more fully consider First Amendment and other issues.
On the other hand, the justices could reject the urgent appeal, which would allow the law to go into effect as planned.
The case made a relatively quick trip through the courts after bipartisan majorities in Congress approved the law and President Joe Biden signed it into law in April.
This story was originally published by The Associated Press.
