Two days after the ultimatum established by the Biden administration, the final ruling of the United States Supreme Court arrives: the law that threatens to shut down TikTok is valid. Now the parent company, the Chinese ByteDance, has only one alternative left: to sell.
The TikTok ban in the United States now it’s certain. There Supreme Court American has just confirmed the law that blocks Chinese social media in the United States starting January 19th. The highest body of the federal judiciary has in fact rejected the appeal brought by ByteDance, the company that owns the social network, in the name of freedom of expression.
The law in question had been signed by the administration of outgoing president Joe Biden and asked that the social network – to which they are registered approximately 170 million Americans – was sold by its parent company or permanently discontinued in the United States.
The Supreme Court’s decision
Based on what theReuters news agencythe judges validated the decision of a lower court which had already confirmed the measure after the appeal lodged by TikTok, ByteDance and some users of the app. In this way the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the supporters of the law, approved in Congress last year by a strong bipartisan majority. Here we leave you the official document of the Supreme Court.
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On the other hand, the United States has been discussing for some time user safety who use the Chinese platform. TikTok now has one billion followers around the world. At the beginning of the debate, the main concerns were about safety and security ties with the Beijing government. The parent company’s attempt to resolve the issue also proved futile separating the marketscreating a version and structure of the app dedicated to China and one reserved for the Western market.
Why the US wants to shut down TikTok
The same reasons appear to have guided the Supreme Court’s decision. According to USA Today, the court said in an unsigned opinion that although TikTok offers a “distinctive and expansive outlet forexpressiona means of engagement and a source of community,” Congress has established that divestment is necessary because of “well-supported national security concerns”.
At this point, ByteDance has no viable alternatives left: to sell or permanently withdraw TikTok from the United States. There are those who have already included Elon Musk in the list of possible buyers, even if the news then broke very downsized.
