According to reports, the Supreme Court justices “sound likely” to uphold the TikTok ban, which is scheduled to go into effect on January 19.
President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to delay the ban, which will begin one day before his inauguration unless it is sold to a new non-Chinese owner.
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has indicated it is not open to a forced sale.
On Friday, the Supreme Court heard over two hours of arguments about whether banning the app would violate Americans’ freedom of speech.
The justices, including conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, seemed skeptical of the claims and said, “The law doesn’t say TikTok has to shut down. It says ByteDance has to (sell TikTok).”
“It doesn’t’ say, ‘TikTok, you can’t speak,’” liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson added, according to a New York Daily News report.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh appeared to accept that the ban is an effort to prevent Chinese indoctrination of young Americans.
“That seems like a huge concern for the future of the country,” Kavanaugh said.
Trump’s nominee to be solicitor general, John Sauer, filed an amicus brief with the court in December.
The brief argued, “President Trump is one of the most powerful, prolific, and influential users of social media in history.”
Hellbound and Down 