TikTok will appear before the US Supreme Court on Friday in a last-ditch attempt to overturn the ban, in a case testing the limits of national security and free speech.
The popular social media platform is challenging a law passed last year that ordered the company to separate from its Chinese owner or be banned from the US by January 19.
The US government claims that without the sale, China could use TikTok as a tool for spying and political manipulation.
But TikTok rejects that claim, arguing that it is being unfairly targeted and that the measure violates the free speech of its roughly 170 million US users.
Lower courts sided with the government, but the case became complicated last month when President-elect Donald Trump waded into the dispute and asked that implementation of the law be paused to give him time to reach a deal.
Analysts say it’s unclear what the Supreme Court will decide, but that overturning a previous ruling – even with the blessing of a future president – would be unusual.
“When you have a real government interest pitted against a real constitutional value, it ends up being a very close case,” said Cardozo Law School professor Saurabh Vishnubhakat.
“But in such close cases, the government often gets the benefit of the doubt.”
The decision of the Supreme Court could be made in a few days.
Congress passed legislation against TikTok last year with support from both the Democratic and Republican parties. The moment marked the culmination of years of concern over the hugely popular platform, which is known for its viral videos and youth appeal.
The law does not ban use of the app, but it does require tech giants such as Apple and Google to stop offering it and ban updates, which analysts suggest would kill it over time.
TikTok is already banned from government devices in many countries, including the UK. It faces more complete bans in some countries, including India.
The US says TikTok is a “serious” threat because the Chinese government could force its owner, ByteDance, to hand over user data or manipulate what it shows users to serve Chinese interests.
Last December, a three-judge appeals court decision upheld the law, noting that China acted through private companies and saying the measure was justified as “part of a broader effort to counter a well-substantiated national security threat” posed by the country.
TikTok has repeatedly denied any potential influence from the Chinese Communist Party and said the law violates users’ First Amendment rights to free speech.
He asked the Supreme Court to strike down the law as unconstitutional or to order a stay to allow for a review of the law, which he said was based on “inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information.”
Trump is scheduled to take office the day after the law takes effect.
He called for a ban on the app in the US during his first term, but changed his stance during the campaign.
A filing filed by Trump’s lawyers late last month did not take a position on the legal dispute, but said the case presents “an unprecedented, new and difficult tension between free speech rights on the one hand and foreign policy and national security concerns on the other.” the rest”.
Noting his election victory, it said Trump “opposes the TikTok ban” and “seeks to be able to solve the problem through political means once he takes office.”
The filing comes less than two weeks after Trump met with the head of TikTok at Mar-a-Lago.
One of the president-elect’s major donors, Jeff Yass of Susequhanna International Group, is a major shareholder in the company.
However, Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, is pushing for a ban on the platform.
Investors who have expressed interest in buying TikTok include Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and former LA Dodgers owner Frank McCourt.
Attorney Peter Choharis, who is part of a group that filed its own brief supporting the U.S. government’s case, said it was hard to predict what the court — which has a conservative majority — would do, noting that several recent court decisions had overturned longstanding precedent.
But he said that even if Trump gets a chance to try to reach a deal, he expects a ban in the end.
“I don’t see any president, including President-elect Trump, being able to resolve this in a way that is satisfactory to US national security because I don’t think ByteDance is going to agree to that,” he said.
The prospect of losing TikTok in the US has sparked outrage from many users, some of whom filed their own lawsuits last year.
In their filing, they said the decision to shut down TikTok “because the ideas on that platform could persuade Americans of one thing or another — even something potentially harmful to our democracy — is completely contrary to the First Amendment.”
Other groups that joined the dispute include the American Civil Liberties Union and the Foundation for Freedom of the Press, which argued that the US had failed to present “credible evidence of ongoing or imminent harm” caused by the social media app.
Mr Choharis said the government had the right to take action to defend itself, arguing that the fight was not about “speech” or “content”, but about the role of the Chinese government.
“It’s about control and how the Chinese Communist Party specifically, and the Chinese government in general, pursues strategic goals by using many internet companies, and especially social media companies — especially including TikTok,” he said.
