BREAKING: Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Divestment Law Over National Security Concerns

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The U.S. Supreme Court upheld on Friday a federal law requiring TikTok to be divested from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, over national security concerns or face a nationwide ban, ruling that the requirement did not violate the social media platform’s free speech rights.

“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the court said in a per curiam decision. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”

The justices reviewed the law under intermediate scrutiny, a standard used to evaluate restrictions on constitutional rights that must further an important government interest in a way substantially related to that interest.

The challenged law, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, requires TikTok, headquartered in California, to be divested from ByteDance or cease operations in the U.S. This stems from concerns over ByteDance’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party, as several of its executives hold positions within the party. ByteDance also owns the source code for TikTok’s recommendation algorithm, which is central to the platform’s functionality, and is subject to Chinese laws granting the government access to its data.