By Alexandra Alper and David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers on both sides of the aisle hailed a ruling by the Supreme Court on Friday that upheld a law that gives popular Chinese-owned social media app TikTok until Sunday to be bought by an American company or be banned.
The justices unanimously ruled the law, passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress last year and signed by Democratic President Joe Biden, did not violate the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protection against government abridgment of free speech.
The ruling was a blow for TikTok and for Republican President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office Monday and has been seeking a last-ditch solution to save the app, years after he launched the first unsuccessful bid to ban it.
“The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision sends a clear message … Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act is the law of the land,” Democratic Representative Frank Pallone said in a statement, adding that “TikTok and other Beijing-controlled applications present a major threat to our national security.”
Republican Senator Tom also applauded the decision, placing the blame for the app’s apparently imminent American demise on its Chinese parent ByteDance.
“ByteDance and its Chinese Communist masters had nine months to sell TikTok before the Sunday deadline,” Cotton said. “The very fact that Communist China refuses to permit its sale reveals exactly what TikTok is: a communist spy app.”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in a video released after the ruling thanked President-elect Donald Trump for his commitment to “work with us to find a solution including that keeps TikTok available in the United States.”
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
During his first term, Trump tried unsuccessfully to both ban TikTok and force its divestment amid fears the app could be used to spy on users for Beijing and concerns its prized algorithm could be used to censor content.
Trump is now scrambling with his advisors to come up with a way to save the app.
“We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark,” Trump’s incoming national security adviser, U.S. Representative Mike Waltz, told Fox News’ “Fox & Friends” on Thursday.
Under the new law, lawyers say only Democratic President Joe Biden could give the app an up to 90 day extension on finding a buyer, something he appeared unlikely to do Friday.
“Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday,” the White House said in a statement.
But lawmakers still urged the app be saved.
“Everyone – the Biden Administration, the incoming Trump Administration, even the Supreme Court – should continue working to find a way to find an American buyer for TikTok, so we can both free the app from any influence and control from the Chinese Communist Party and keep TikTok going, which will preserve the jobs of millions of creators,” Democratic Senator and minority leader Chuck Schumer said on the Senate floor prior to the Supreme Court decision.
Some Republicans echoed his remarks.
“If ByteDance cares about its users, the company will come to the table and help us make the deal of the century,” Republican Rep. John Moolenaar, chair of the China Select Committee, said in a statement.
