Washington – On Friday, Supreme Court judges, who skeptical in the free defense of Tiktok, indicated that they are unlikely to strike the law that could close the famous video site on the day that the President -elect Donald Trump has preceded his position.
The judges, conservatives and liberals, said that Congress was interested in Chinese ownership of Tikhak and the threat of national security. They also said that the law concerned was not an attempt to restrict freedom of expression.
The senior judge John J. Roberts Junior: “Congress does not care about what is on Tijook”, “Congress is not fine with a foreign opponent who collects all this data over 170 million Americans. … Are we supposed to ignore the fact that his mother company is subject to intelligence work for the Chinese government?”
He said that he is aware of any precedent for the court that will call for the multiplication of such a law on the ground of the first amendment.
In their comments and questions, all judges seemed to agree.
“This law targets a foreign company that does not have the rights of the first amendment,” said Judge Elena Kagan.
Judge Brett added. Cavano: “There is a long tradition in preventing foreign ownership or controlling the media in the United States.”
Tiktok lawyers and many of their lawyers described the law as an unprecedented attack on the first amendment.
They said: “The closure of the platform will lead to the silence of the letter of 170 million US monthly users.”
But the Congress and the Biden Administration said that the China -owned platform gives the government in Beijing to access “vast areas of data about tens of millions of Americans”, which “can be used for spying or extortion.”
The judges agreed to decide to appeal the first Tiktok in amending a quick schedule of the path, and they are likely to issue a ruling within a few days.
None of them was ready to declare law unconstitutional.
In recent years, judges have often canceled federal regulations, usually on the basis that Congress has not declared such long -term rule.
But they are concerned about beating a work for Congress, especially a law based on the demand of national security.
The closure law is scheduled to enter on January 19.
“We go to the dark. The platform is closed,” Tijook’s lawyer Noel Francisco told the court.
Even if the judges are not ready to strike the law as unconstitutional, he said that they must issue an order that temporarily delays the law to apply.
He said: “The short revival will have meaning in the world,” because it will give Trump a time to try to reach a deal that can keep Tiktok at work.
In 2020, Trump issued, during his first term, an executive order asking Tiktok to separate himself from Chinese ownership, but was banned by the courts.
President Biden and Congress assumed this case after receiving secret surroundings about the potential threat of bytedance, the Chinese -controlled company that runs Tiktok.
The administration tried and failed to reach a deal that would separate Tiktok from Chinese control.
The closure law received support for the largest majority of the two parties in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and Biden signed in April. According to its conditions, the law was scheduled to enter 270 days, on January 19.
If the law enters into force, it will be illegal for service providers such as Google or Apple “distribution or maintaining … a foreign advisory application” in the United States. Violations can lead to huge civil fines.
Another and the best hope for Tiktok may be rest with Trump. He changed his view last year about Tiktok, who said he helped him reach young voters.
Two weeks ago, he made a summary urging the court to stand aside and allow him to conclude a deal with Tiktok owners.
None of the judges asked about Trump’s intervention.
The law allows one time to extend for up to 90 days if the new president decides that there is “great progress” towards the arrangement of “qualified abstraction”.
It is not clear whether Trump can call this ruling to delay the law to apply.
On Wednesday, a group of an investor led by former Dodgers owner Frank McCort made a bidedance for the American Tiktok business. The conditions of the deal were not revealed, and a group representative, known as the people’s attempt by Takhtok, rejected the discussion of negotiations with the Chinese company on Friday.
“Our assumption is that the Supreme Court will support the law, and at this stage, the only way to maintain Tiktok under the law will be to strip,” said Tomica Teleman, head of the Liberty project, an organization based in New York, who collected the show.
Teleman said that the investment group will rebuild the platform in a way that prioritizes the privacy of Tiktok users.
“What we focus on is to provide a clear path forward that allows the preservation of a vibrant dynamic society that is Tiktok under US ownership,” said Telemann.