Headline Roundup • January 17th, 2025
Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Ban, Future of TikTok Uncertain
Summary from the AllSides News Team
On Friday, the Supreme Court upheld a federal law forcing TikTok to either sell its U.S. operations or face a ban. The Biden administration has signaled it will not impose the ban, leaving the decision to incoming President Trump.
The Details: The bipartisan law requires TikTok's China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell off its U.S. operations by January 19th, the day before Trump takes office. Trump, who initially attempted to ban TikTok in 2020, is reportedly considering an executive order to suspend the ban's enforcement for two to three months. TikTok CEO Shou Chew posted a video responding to the Supreme Court and praising Trump's efforts to keep the platform online. Chew is expected to accept an invitation to attend Trump's inauguration on Monday.
For Context: The controversy lies in concerns over ByteDance's compliance with requests from the Chinese government to access user data or censor content, potentially posing a risk to national security. The challenge to the law that the Supreme Court was evaluating was a free speech concern.
How The Media Covered It: Several Left and Center sources focused on the uncertain future of the app. Fox Business (Lean Right bias) quoted Trump administration officials who implied Trump will take measures to save TikTok. An editor revised and published this summary with the help of AllSides AI.
Featured Coverage of this Story
TikTok is set to be banned in the US on 19 January after the Supreme Court denied a last ditch legal bid from its Chinese owner, ByteDance.
It found the law banning the social media platform did not violate the first amendment rights of TikTok and its 170 million users, as the companies argued.
But will the decision of the country's highest judicial authority actually stop Americans using it?
President-elect Donald Trump says, simply, the future of TikTok is up to him.
Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images file
The Supreme Court on Friday delivered a blow to TikTok by upholding a law that could lead to a ban on the video-sharing social media platform in the United States.
In an unsigned opinion with no dissents, the justices rejected a free speech challenge filed by the company, meaning the law is set to go into effect on Sunday as planned.
The bipartisan law requires China-based TikTok owner ByteDance to divest itself of the company by Sunday, the day before President-elect Donald Trump is to take office. If no sale takes place, the...
President Joe Biden will not seek to enforce the ban on the popular social media platform TikTok that is slated to take effect on Jan. 19 due to legislation passed last year, the Associated Press reported, citing a U.S. official.
"Our position on this has been clear: TikTok should continue to operate under American ownership. Given the timing of when it goes into effect over a holiday weekend a day before inauguration, it will be up to the next administration to implement," a White House official noted in a statement, according to ABC...
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