WASHINGTON — TikTok on Monday asked the Supreme Court to step in on an emergency basis to block the federal law that would ban the popular platform in the United States unless its China-based parent company agreed to sell it.
Lawyers for the company and China-based ByteDance urged the justices to step in before the law's Jan. 19 deadline. A similar plea was expected from content creators who rely on the platform for income and some of TikTok's more than 170 million users in the U.S.
The companies have said that a shutdown lasting just a month would cause TikTok to lose about a third of its daily users in the U.S. and significant advertising revenue.
The case could attract the court's interest because it pits free speech rights against the government's stated aims of protecting national security, while raising novel issues about social media platforms.
People are also reading…
A TikTok sign is displayed on top of their building in Culver City, Calif., on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024.
The request first goes to Chief Justice John Roberts, who oversees emergency appeals from courts in the nation's capital. He almost certainly will seek input from all nine justices.
On Friday, a panel of federal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied an emergency plea to block the law, a procedural ruling that allowed the case to move to the Supreme Court.
The same panel had earlier unanimously upheld the law over a First Amendment challenge claiming that it violated free speech rights.
Without a court-ordered freeze, the law would take effect Jan. 19 and expose app stores that offer TikTok and internet hosting services that support it to potential fines.
It would be up to the Justice Department to enforce the law, investigating possible violations and seeking sanctions. But lawyers for TikTok and ByteDance have argued that the Justice Department might pause enforcement or otherwise seek to mitigate the law's most severe consequences because President-elect Donald Trump pledged during the campaign that he would “save TikTok.”
Trump takes office a day after the law goes into effect.
The Supreme Court could temporarily put the law on hold so that they can give fuller consideration to First Amendment and other issues.
On the other hand, the justices could reject the emergency appeal, which would allow the law to take effect as scheduled.
The case has made a relatively quick trip through the courts once bipartisan majorities in Congress approved the law and President Joe Biden signed it in April.
Who are the most-followed TikTok creators in the US?
Selena Gomez
Estimated total followers: 58,300,000
Videos posted: 209
Selena Gomez initially rose to fame as the star of Disney Channel's "Wizards of Waverly Place" in the mid-aughts before becoming a global sensation as a pop star; a businesswoman with her successful makeup line, Rare Beauty; and an actress on the Golden Globe- and Emmy-nominated Hulu series "Only Murders in the Building." Her TikToks are mostly videos of her using her Rare Beauty products, with occasional behind-the-scenes "Only Murders" posts and tidbits about her personal life.
Jason Derulo
Estimated total followers: 59,900,000
Videos posted: 958
Multiplatinum singer-songwriter Jason Derulo has long since established himself as a mainstay in pop culture, with songs like "Wiggle" and "Talk Dirty" among the many singles that have contributed to sales of more than 250 million singles. Music is featured on Derulo's TikTok, but he spends more time entertaining followers by doing viral dances and sharing scenes from his daily life with flashy edits and a sense of humor.
Billie Eilish
Estimated total followers: 65,500,000
Videos posted: 55
Billie Eilish rose to fame as a young singer-songwriter in 2015, when she uploaded her song "Ocean Eyes" to SoundCloud at just 13 years old. The song went on to become a hit, and Eilish has since released the chart-topper "Bad Guy" and earworms like "Happier Than Ever" and "Birds of a Feather" and earned two Academy Awards for the titular theme song for the James Bond film "No Time to Die" and the ballad "What Was I Made For?" from 2023's "Barbie." Eilish's TikTok often features her own music but done so with her own personality and self-filmed quality.
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson
Estimated total followers: 74,600,000
Videos posted: 268
While Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson began his career in entertainment as a wrestler with the WWE, he's gone on to be a major player in Hollywood with box-office hits like "Moana" and a few films from the "Fast & Furious" franchise. On TikTok, Johnson promotes films, posts comedic meme-style videos, and occasionally shares scenes from his daily life as a father, actor, and businessman.
Will Smith
Estimated total followers: 75,100,000
Videos posted: 275
Will Smith, now an Academy Award-winning leading man in Hollywood, started his career as a rapper with the duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince before becoming a sensation as the lead on the sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." Smith uses his TikTok as a platform for well-edited promotional behind-the-scenes footage and updates on his career.
Zach King
Estimated total followers: 82,200,000
Videos posted: 503
Zach King initially built a following the short-lived, short-form video app Vine before growing his following on TikTok. He is primarily a filmmaker who uses editing to create whimsical, magical-seeming trick-of-the-eye videos.
Addison Rae
Estimated total followers: 88,800,000
Videos posted: 1,776
Addison Rae was a pioneer TikTok influencer, rising to fame with videos of her performing popular dance trends. Since then, she's pivoted to acting, with a starring role in 2021's "He's All That," and singing, with songs like "Obsessed." Her content now showcases more of her "it girl," friend-of-celebs lifestyle and brand collaborations and less on trends and dancing.
MrBeast
Estimated total followers: 101,300,000
Videos posted: 356
MrBeast achieved success first as a YouTuber, posting himself performing bizarre challenges, playing video games, and performing shock-baiting stunts like giving out large sums of money to random people before becoming equally successful on TikTok. While most of his content still is mainly released on YouTube, his TikTok features clips of all his stunts.
Charli D'Amelio
Estimated total followers: 155,500,000
Videos posted: 2,700
Like Addison Rae, Charli D'Amelio was an influencer who emerged to success during the early days of TikTok. She began on the app performing popular dance trends and makeup tutorials and also shared the spotlight on her Hulu reality show, "The D'Amelio Show," with her older sister, Dixie D'Amelio. These days, Charli still performs some dance trends on her TikTok, along with lip-sync trends, and sponsored posts.
Story editing by Carren Jao. Additional editing by Kelly Glass. Copy editing by Paris Close. Photo selection by Clarese Moller.
This story originally appeared on Collabstr and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
