Noel Francisco, representing TikTok and ByteDance, argued that Supreme Court endorsement of this law could enable statutes targeting other companies on similar grounds. TikTok is a platform used by about 170 million people in the United States, roughly half the country's population. Jeffrey Fisher, the lawyer representing TikTok content creators who also have challenged the law, noted during the Supreme Court arguments that Congress with this measure was focusing on TikTok and not major Chinese online retailers including Temu. If the ban takes affect on Jan 19, Apple and Alphabet's Google would no longer be able to offer TikTok for downloads for new users but existing users could still access the app. The Supreme Court also debated whether the possibility of TikTok being used for covert influence campaigns or propaganda purposes by China justified the banning it.

Source: bd News24 January 12, 2025 02:43 UTC