By Alexandra Alper and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle welcomed a Supreme Court ruling on Friday that upheld a law that gave popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok until Sunday to be bought by a U.S. company or be banned.
The justices ruled unanimously that the law, passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress last year and signed by Democratic President Joe Biden, does not violate the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects against government restrictions on free speech.
The ruling was a blow to TikTok and to Republican President Donald Trump, who takes office on Monday and is seeking a last-ditch effort to save the app, years after he launched the first failed attempt to ban it.
“The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision sends a clear message … The Act to protect Americans from apps controlled by a foreign adversary is the law of the land,” Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone said in a statement, adding that “TikTok and other Beijing-controlled apps pose a major threat to our national security.”
Republican Senator Tom also welcomed the decision, pinning the blame for the app’s seemingly inevitable US demise on its Chinese parent ByteDance.
“ByteDance and its Chinese Communist overlords had nine months to sell TikTok before Sunday’s deadline,” Cotton said. “The very fact that Communist China refuses to allow its sale reveals exactly what TikTok is: a Communist spy app.”
In a video released after the ruling, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew thanked President-elect Donald Trump for his commitment to “work with us to find a solution, including keeping TikTok available in the United States.”
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
During his first term, Trump unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok and force it to quit over fears that the app could be used to spy on users for Beijing and concerns that its prized algorithm could be used to censor content.
Trump is now battling with his advisers to figure out a way to save the app.
“We’re going to put measures in place to make sure TikTok doesn’t stop,” Trump’s new national security adviser, U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” Thursday.
Under the new law, lawyers say only Democratic President Joe Biden can grant the app an extension of up to 90 days after finding a buyer, which he is unlikely to do on Friday.
“Given the very fact of timing, this administration understands that enforcement actions must simply fall to the next administration, which takes office on Monday,” the White House said in a statement.
But lawmakers still called for the app to be saved.
“Everyone — the Biden administration, the new Trump administration, even the Supreme Court — should continue to work to find a way to find an American buyer for TikTok so that we can free the app from any Chinese Communist Party influence and control and continue to operate TikTok, which will preserve the jobs of millions of creators,” Democratic Senator and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said before the Supreme Court decision.
Some Republicans echoed his remarks.
“If ByteDance cares about its customers, the company will come to the table and help us make the deal of the century,” Republican Rep. John Moolenaar, chairman of the China Committee, said in a statement.
