The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 Friday that a federal law requiring social video platform TikTok to divest from its Chinese government-linked ownership by January 19 or shut down is constitutional, although Joe Biden is reportedly holding off on enforcement.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 9-0 Friday that a federal law requiring social video platform TikTok to divest from its Chinese government-linked ownership by January 19 or shut down is constitutional, although questions remain about implementation.
President Joe Biden signed the law last April with the support of many in both parties, due to Chinese parent company ByteDance’s links to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its military and surveillance operations, sparking national-security concerns over the Chinese regime’s access to the personal data of TikTok’s American users.
“Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary,” the unsigned opinion said. The government “has an important and well-grounded interest in preventing China from collecting the personal data of tens of millions of U.S. TikTok users,’ and the ban is “sufficiently tailored to address the Government’s interest in preventing a foreign adversary from collecting vast swaths of sensitive data about the 170 million U.S. persons who use TikTok.”
But while the deadline is one day before Biden hands over the White House to returning President Donald Trump, Biden is reportedly planning to leave implementation to his successor, who has repeatedly indicated he wants to save the app.
In the final year of Trump’s first term, he levied sanctions against TikTok and supported banning it as well, but during his 2024 campaign reversed his position days after meeting with GOP megadonor and TikTok shareholder Jeff Yass. In December 2024, Trump asked the Supreme Court to delay the divestment deadline until after he took office, arguing that he “alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the government.”
On Friday morning, Trump reported that he had spoken with China’s Chairman Xi Jinping about multiple issues, including TikTok, and that he was still reviewing the Supreme Court ruling and would make a decision soon. Mike Waltz, Trump’s National Security Adviser, said Thursday that the TikTok ban “allows for an extension as long as a viable deal is on the table.”
