SCOTUS OK’s TikTok Shutdown

The Supreme Court unanimously upheld a federal law requiring TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell or shut down the social-media app by Jan. 19, siding with Congress’s national-security concerns over the platform and its users’ claim that the ban violates the First Amendment.

The Wall Street Journal reports the ruling on Friday means the platform could go dark—at least temporarily—on Sunday, depriving millions of teenagers and other TikTok users of their daily fix of short-form videos that keep them glued to their phones. 

President-elect Donald Trump and his allies are trying to find a political path forward to assuage security concerns and rescue the app. Biden administration officials have signaled they don’t intend to enforce the ban before leaving office, but that hasn’t been enough to give TikTok comfort. 

If it lost at the Supreme Court, TikTok has been planning to shut down the app in the U.S. to comply with the law and avoid exposing companies that sell or distribute the app to legal liability. It has also been exploring other maneuvers and courting Trump.

The ruling set off a new last-minute round of scrambling. The White House made clear it intended to take no action when the law takes effect Sunday, given Trump’s inauguration the next day. “This administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next administration,” Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. 

The Justice Department said it welcomed the decision but offered no specifics on what happens now. “The next phase of this effort—implementing and ensuring compliance with the law after it goes into effect on January 19—will be a process that plays out over time,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said.