US Supreme Court to hear arguments over TikTok ban

The US Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to review a request from TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to block a law that would require the sale of the popular video-sharing app by January 19, or face a ban on national security grounds.

The nation's top court are set to hear arguments on January 10 regarding whether the law unconstitutionally limits freedom of speech, in breach of the First Amendment.

The court's ruling was issued two days following TikTok's petition for an injunction against the law.

In April, US President Joe Biden enacted the law that gives ByteDance only 270 days to sell TikTok, citing unfounded national security concerns. If the company fails to comply, the law will require app store operators such as Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their platforms.

In May, TikTok sued the US government to block the potential ban, which has drawn widespread criticism.

In early December, the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, dismissed TikTok's claim that the ban is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment rights of the 170 million US users.

On Monday, TikTok asked the US Supreme Court to block the law, arguing that it will shutter one of America's most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration, and "silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern."