According to international media reports, the United States Supreme Court may ban Chinese-owned app TikTok in the country as early as next week.
A majority of US Supreme Court justices are leaning toward approving a law that would ban TikTok in the United States, possibly starting on January 19, 2025, CNN reports.
The US Supreme Court presided over the hearing of the case on January 10. During the hearing, the judges asked challenging questions of the app’s legal team and a group of its content creators.
CNN notes that the justices see the ban as less about First Amendment rights and more about addressing concerns about potential foreign influence on an app used by 170 million Americans.
According to international media reports, the Supreme Court judges are expected to support the stance of banning the app in the country or giving it full access within the US.
The case went to the Supreme Court after the US Congress argued that legislation was necessary for TikTok. They argued that ByteDance was controlled by the Chinese government and posed a national security threat by collecting extensive personal data from American users.
Earlier, both Donald Trump and Joe Biden, as US presidents, have expressed concerns about how Tik Tok works in the country. They accused the app of possible manipulation of data collection methods and content by the Chinese government.
however, TikTok Denying these allegations, he called them unnecessary. He responded that the Chinese government does not influence his content, such as cat videos, recipes, and news seen by millions of Americans.
