Tech Desk 
Dec 19, 2024
Amid developments unfolding around the TikTok ban in the US due to national security reasons, the US Supreme Court on Wednesday to hear a petition lodged by TikTok and ByteDance —its China-based parent company— seeking to block a law demanding the short-video platform to be sold by January 19 or face a nationwide ban.
The plea filed in urgency by TikTok, ByteDance and a few users was not immediately responded to by the justices to halt the ban hovering over it for months, Reuters reported.
Instead, the apex court has scheduled the arguments against TikTok ban or divesture to be heard on January 10. The opposers are challenging a lower court's ruling inclined towards the law.
The development comes after Congress in April this year passed the law which was also signed by former US president Joe Biden.
At that time, the platform was considered to be posing "a national-security threat of immense depth and scale" by the Justice Department for being a Chinese company and having a massive database containing vast amounts of American users' data.
This data reportedly consists of locations and private messages, which grant TikTok to discreetly manipulate content viewed by Americans on the app.
On the other hand, the short video platform refutes the claims by the Justice Department, stating that it poses no imminent threat to the national security of the country.
On December 16, both the key petitioners pleaded with the apex court to temporarily cease the law, arguing that it blatantly contravenes free speech guaranteed under the US Constitution's First Amendment.
