TikTok is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to step in as it faces a January 19 deadline that could force the app to shut down in the United States.
In an emergency filing on Monday, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance urged the court to block the law that requires TikTok to either be sold or banned, arguing it violates the First Amendment.
The appeal comes after TikTok’s earlier legal challenges failed. A federal court denied the company’s request to delay the law last week, leaving TikTok scrambling for options. “The Supreme Court has an established record of upholding Americans’ right to free speech,” TikTok said in a statement on X. “We are asking the Court to do what it has traditionally done in free speech cases: apply the most rigorous scrutiny to speech bans and conclude that it violates the First Amendment.”
The legal battle is unfolding amid shifting political winds. TikTok CEO Shou Chew reportedly met with President-elect Donald Trump on Monday at Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s comments earlier that day—claiming a “warm spot” for TikTok—marked a surprising shift, given his previous executive order attempting to ban the app. TikTok referenced Trump’s position in its Supreme Court filing, pointing out the potential for a change in enforcement just hours after the law takes effect. Trump’s inauguration is scheduled for January 20, one day after the ban would be enforced.
Without intervention from the Supreme Court, app stores and internet service providers will be required to begin blocking TikTok in the U.S., cutting off access for the app’s 170 million users. TikTok argues this would cause unnecessary disruption, particularly if Trump’s administration chooses not to enforce the ban. The Department of Justice, however, has pushed back, rejecting TikTok’s claims of free speech violations.
TikTok’s fight to avoid a ban has been years in the making, but the stakes are higher than ever. Now the Supreme Court will decide whether the app gets more time or whether its U.S. operations will be forced offline.
This also raises the question of how much Trump can actually do. This law was passed by Congress, and any attempt to save TikTok would require him to sidestep Congress’s authority—or work with lawmakers to repeal or replace the legislation. If he wants to keep TikTok running as it is, he will have to address the roadblocks Congress has already put in place.
