The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments on the proposed TikTok ban on January 10, just days before it is scheduled to take effect on January 19.
The court’s decision to fast-track the case follows a request from TikTok and content creators for intervention.
Earlier this year, Congress passed the ban with bipartisan support.
Lawmakers expressed concerns about TikTok’s potential threats to national security, citing classified briefings from intelligence officials.
These briefings indicated that China could utilize TikTok to spread propaganda and monitor American users.
An appeals court in Washington upheld the law earlier this month, which prohibits app stores like Google and Apple from allowing TikTok downloads or updates and restricts internet hosting services from supporting the app.
App inoperative
While the law does not criminalize TikTok usage, it may render the app inoperative.
The parent company, ByteDance, has rejected selling its U.S. operations.
U.S. officials argue that the only way to safeguard against potential exploitation of TikTok by China is through its divestiture from Chinese ownership.
TikTok contends that there is no evidence supporting claims that China will misuse the app and suggests that the ban is an effort to control user-generated content.
Since its establishment in the U.S. in 2018, TikTok has garnered 170 million users.
