TikTok could be banned in the US within months. The company’s lawyers will go to court on Monday to challenge that result, the latest stage in the ongoing conflict between the short video app and the US government.
TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance have been under scrutiny for years by US lawmakers and intelligence officials over the app’s ties to China. They have argued in congressional hearings and court proceedings that the app raises national security concerns because the Chinese government could use it to access sensitive information about Americans or spread propaganda. They pushed for a law signed in April that requires ByteDance to sell the app to a non-Chinese owner or face a ban.
ByteDance and TikTok filed a lawsuit in May to block the law, saying a ban would violate free speech in the United States. They argue that there are other, less restrictive ways to address these security concerns. Federal judges will hear arguments from both sides in a hearing Monday that could give a sense of which way the justices are leaning.
The ruling is unlikely to be the final word on the future of TikTok or its 170 million US users. Lawyers working on the case have asked the judges to make a decision in early December. Legal experts expect the Supreme Court to decide in mid-January whether to hear the case before a ban goes into effect.