Will TikTok still be available in the United States this Sunday? It’s looking increasingly unlikely: the final appeal to the Supreme Court has failed. In a unanimous vote of the justices, the highest court in the country ruled that Congress had upheld the Constitution by requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok, under penalty of a ban.
Freedom of expression vs. national security
The argument of freedom of expression dear to the First Amendment of the Constitution and invoked by ByteDance did not hold up in the face of the threat that TikTok poses to national security. Consequently, the application should disappear from the Apple and Google stores on January 19… unless of course there is a new twist in this case that is not lacking in them.
The Supreme Court’s decision opens a chasm under the feet of 170 million American TikTok users. Those who have installed the app will be able to continue using it, but it will no longer be downloadable. As a snub to the authorities, some of them have decided to move to other Chinese social networks!
Can a last-minute solution reasonably be found to “save” TikTok? Elon Musk is reportedly in the loop to take over the social network, a less than encouraging prospect for those who see how the billionaire has turned Twitter into a sounding board to propagate his political ideas.
Donald Trump, who will take possession of the Oval Office on January 20, has promised to support TikTok and could choose to suspend the implementation of the ban measures.
Source: Supreme Court
0 Comments