The Supreme Court ruled Friday that a controversial ban on TikTok may take effect this weekend, rejecting an appeal from the popular app that claimed the ban violated the First Amendment.
The court handed down an unsigned opinion and there were no noted dissents.
The decision, which followed warnings from the Biden administration that the app posed a “grave” national security threat because of its ties to China, will allow the ban to start Sunday – though it remains unclear whether the app’s 170 million American users will notice any change at all.
In the runup to the ban’s effective date, President Joe Biden’s administration signaled it would leave enforcement of the ban to President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Monday. Despite that, TikTok has said it may “go dark” when the ban takes effect.
Trump has said he’s warmed to the platform and will try to save it. The law gives him considerable leeway to do so.
In an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court acknowledged that for 170 million Americans TikTok offers “a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community.”
But the court said, Congress was focused on national security concerns and that, the court said, was a deciding factor in how it weighed the case.
