(NewsNation) — TikTok is slated to plead its case in front of the Supreme Court on Friday in an eleventh-hour bid to stop an impending ban of the social media behemoth.
The company plans to present arguments to invalidate a law requiring it to divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a ban by Jan. 19.
TikTok, which has more than 170 million U.S users, says it will shut down the social media platform in the U.S. by that date unless the nation’s highest court strikes down the law.
The company filed an emergency application asking to delay the law’s deadline, and the Supreme Court opted to move the emergency appeal to its normal docket to take up the case in full.
A decision by the court could come within days.
Here’s what to know ahead of TikTok's day in court:
Why is TikTok facing a ban?
President Joe Biden signed a law in April stating that ByteDance, which owns TikTok and is based in China, has a Jan. 19 deadline to sell the platform to an approved buyer or face being banned in the U.S.
The law received bipartisan support by lawmakers who said TikTok being owned by a Chinese company is a risk to national security and could expose sensitive data to a foreign government.
The law came under a larger foreign aid package called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.
TikTok has been fighting the law ever since.
What are the arguments on both sides?
TikTok and ByteDance — along with some content creators and users — argue the law violates constitutionally protected free speech rights.
“Rarely if ever has the court confronted a free-speech case that matters to so many people,” lawyers for the users and content creators wrote.
TikTok said in previous court briefs that a ban “will silence the speech of applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts and other matters of public concern.”
The platform also contends it operates separately from its Chinese parent company and will not be subject to pressure from the American adversary.
Critics of the legislation also say the bill unfairly targets TikTok and that national and data security threats span across the industry, according to The Hill.
The Biden administration has argued security concerns from a known adversary, saying that “no one can seriously dispute that (China’s) control of TikTok through ByteDance represents a grave threat to national security.”
The law's supporters say Chinese authorities can compel ByteDance to hand over information on TikTok’s U.S. patrons or use the platform to spread or suppress information.
What have the courts said so far?
Lower courts have thus far ruled in favor of the law.
In December, a panel of three appellate judges, two appointed by Republicans and one by a Democrat, unanimously upheld the law and rejected the First Amendment speech claims.
A federal appeals court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit also upheld the law, with the latter ruling the government’s national security concerns justified the “significant” impacts of a potential ban and superseded any free speech concerns.
What does a ban mean for TikTok users in the US?
A ban would not mean the app would be automatically removed from users' phones. Instead, it means that it would be taken off Apple and Google’s app stores, so users would not be able to download it or receive updates, security patches or bug fixes, rendering it unusable over time.
How is Trump involved?
If the law takes effect, President-elect Donald Trump’s Justice Department will be charged with enforcing it.
Trump asked the Supreme Court to delay the deadline for a potential TikTok ban, which is slated for the day before his inauguration, The Hill reported.
“President Trump alone possesses the consummate deal-making expertise, the electoral mandate and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns,” wrote D. John Sauer, one of Trump’s personal appellate attorneys.
TikTok is embattled in legal challenges all over the world
With billions of users spanning the globe, concerns around TikTok have sparked in several countries.
The company faces outright or partial bans in at least 20 nations, the New York Times reported.
India banned the app in 2020 as tense relations with China exploded into combat along their shared border, the Times reported. Nepal took TikTok offline for nearly a year for not shutting down content the government described as hate speech, according to the Times.
The Associated Press and NewsNation's Cassie Buchman contributed to this story.