US SC seems likely to uphold federal law to shut down TikTok on Jan 19

The Supreme Court on Friday seemed likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States beginning January 19 unless the popular social media programme is sold by its China-based parent company.

Hearing arguments in a momentous clash of free speech and national security concerns, the justices seemed persuaded by arguments that the national security threat posed by the company’s connections to China override concerns about restricting the speech, either of TikTok or its 170 million users in the United States.