US Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Divest-Or-Ban Law

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Jan 17, 2025

Above: In this photo illustration, the TikTok logo is displayed on a phone screen on Nov. 30, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. Image copyright: Asanka Ratnayake/Stringer/Getty Images News via Getty Imagesstory last updated 4 days ago

The Facts

The Supreme Court of the US rejected on Friday an appeal from video sharing app TikTok that sought to block the implementation of a law banning the app in the US unless it sold the platform, with justices citing national security concerns in their unanimous judgment.
In their decision, the judges said that while 170M Americans used the Chinese-owned TikTok as a "distinctive and expansive outlet for expression," the concerns of Congress regarding data collection and its relationship with the Chinese government were "well-supported."

The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

The TikTok divestment bill passed Congress with broad bipartisan margins, and it is right for the Supreme Court to uphold the law. TikTok has been documented spying on journalists and harvesting broad swathes of information, and it could use its powerful algorithm to shift US public opinion. Given the fact that few American social media firms are allowed in China, this law corrects this asymmetry and makes the country more secure.

by Noah Smith

Establishment-critical narrative

This decision saw the Supreme Court stifle free speech in an unprecedented way and stir up anti-China hysteria. A hypothetical threat to national security is no threat at all, and there is scant evidence to support claims that TikTok is spying on Americans. This decision is specious given the dearth of privacy regulations for Americans and the unwillingness of the current and future administrations to enforce it.