Politics
Supreme Court backs law banning TikTok if it’s not sold by its Chinese parent company
The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld the federal law banning TikTok beginning Sunday unless it’s sold by its China-based parent company, holding that the risk to national security posed by its ties to China overcomes concerns about limiting speech by the app or its 170 million users in the United States.
A sale does not appear imminent and, although experts have said the app will not disappear from existing users’ phones once the law takes effect, new users won’t be able to download it and updates won’t be available. That will eventually render the app unworkable, the Justice Department has said in court filings.
The decision came against the backdrop of unusual political agitation by President-elect Donald Trump, who vowed that he could negotiate a solution, and the administration of President Joe Biden, which has signaled it won’t enforce the law — which was passed with overwhelming bipartisan support — beginning Sunday, his final full day in office.
“TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement, noting that actions to implement the law will fall to the new administration.
Trump, mindful of TikTok’s popularity, and his own 14.7 million followers on the app, finds himself on the opposite side of the argument from prominent Senate Republicans who fault TikTok’s Chinese owner for not finding a buyer before now. Trump said in a Truth Social post shortly before the decision was issued that TikTok was among the topics in his conversation Friday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, who is expected to attend Trump’s inauguration, used the app to thank the incoming President for “his commitment to work with us to keep TikTok available.”
It’s unclear what options are open to Trump, a Republican, once he is sworn in as President on Monday. The law allowed for a 90-day pause in the restrictions on the app if there had been progress toward a sale before it took effect. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who defended the law at the Supreme Court for the Democratic Biden administration, told the justices last week that it’s uncertain whether the prospect of a sale once the law is in effect could trigger a 90-day respite for TikTok.
The decision explores the intersection of the First Amendment and national security concerns in the fast-changing realm of social media, and the justices acknowledged in their opinion that the new terrain has been difficult to navigate given they know relatively little about it.
“Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary,” the court said in an unsigned opinion, adding that the law “does not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights.”
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch filed short separate opinions noting some reservations about the court’s decision but going along with the outcome.
“Without doubt, the remedy Congress and the President chose here is dramatic,” Gorsuch wrote. Still, he said he was persuaded by the argument that China could get access to “vast troves of personal information about tens of millions of Americans.”
Some digital rights groups slammed the court’s ruling shortly after it was released.
“Today’s unprecedented decision upholding the TikTok ban harms the free expression of hundreds of millions of TikTok users in this country and around the world,” said Kate Ruane, a director at the Washington-based Center for Democracy & Technology, which has supported TikTok’s challenge to the federal law.
Content creators who opposed the law also worried about the effect on their business if TikTok shuts down. “I’m very, very concerned about what’s going to happen over the next couple weeks,” said Desiree Hill, owner of Crown’s Corner mechanic shop in Conyers, Georgia. “And very scared about the decrease that I’m going to have in reaching customers and worried I’m going to potentially lose my business in the next six months.”
At arguments, the justices were told by a lawyer for TikTok and ByteDance Ltd., the Chinese technology company that is its parent, how difficult it would be to consummate a deal, especially since Chinese law restricts the sale of the proprietary algorithm that has made the social media platform wildly successful.
The app allows users to watch hundreds of videos in about half an hour because some are only a few seconds long, according to a lawsuit filed last year by Kentucky complaining that TikTok is designed to be addictive and harms kids’ mental health. Similar suits were filed by more than a dozen states. TikTok has called the claims inaccurate.
The dispute over TikTok’s ties to China has come to embody the geopolitical competition between Washington and Beijing.
“ByteDance and its Chinese Communist masters had nine months to sell TikTok before the Sunday deadline,” Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, wrote on X. “The very fact that Communist China refuses to permit its sale reveals exactly what TikTok is: a communist spy app. The Supreme Court correctly rejected TikTok’s lies and propaganda masquerading as legal arguments.”
The U.S. has said it’s concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. Officials have also warned the algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.
TikTok points out the U.S. has not presented evidence that China has attempted to manipulate content on its U.S. platform or gather American user data through TikTok.
Biden signed the legislation it into law in April. The law was the culmination of a yearslong saga in Washington over TikTok, which the government sees as a national security threat.
TikTok, which sued the government last year over the law, has long denied it could be used as a tool of Beijing. A three-judge panel made up of two Republican appointees and a Democratic appointee unanimously upheld the law in December, prompting TikTok’s quick appeal to the Supreme Court.
Without a sale to an approved buyer, the law bars app stores operated by Apple, Google and others from offering TikTok beginning on Sunday. Internet hosting services also will be prohibited from hosting TikTok.
ByteDance has said it won’t sell. But some investors have been eyeing it, including Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire businessman Frank McCourt. McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative has said it and its unnamed partners have presented a proposal to ByteDance to acquire TikTok’s U.S. assets. The consortium, which includes “Shark Tank” host Kevin O’Leary, did not disclose the financial terms of the offer.
McCourt, in a statement following the ruling, said his group was “ready to work with the company and President Trump to complete a deal.”
Prelogar told the justices last week that having the law take effect “might be just the jolt” ByteDance needs to reconsider its position.
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Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
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University of Central Florida (UCF) President Alexander Cartwright’s contract was extended this week, giving him a $900,000 base salary — a 20% raise — to continue leading one of the biggest schools in the country for the next year.
The Florida Board of Governors approved Cartwright’s deal Thursday after the trustees at the Orlando school voted yes last month.
The new contract will pay him a $900,000 base salary starting April 13 until April 12, 2026. In addition, he is eligible to receive bonuses up to $375,000, which would put Cartwright’s total compensation at $1.275 million.
His previous annual base salary was $750,000.
“Dr. Cartwright’s efforts have also positioned UCF as a national leader in higher education,” UCF Trustees Chair Alex Martins, who is the Orlando Magic CEO, wrote in a Jan. 14 letter to the state board. “Under President Cartwright’s leadership, UCF is on track to achieve preeminence by 2026, unlocking new opportunities and resources that will propel the university to even greater heights.”
Cartwright was hired at the school in April 2020.
Since Cartwright took over, the school’s four-year graduation rates improved while 72% of UCF graduates are finishing their schooling without taking any federal loans, Martins wrote in his letter.
Martins also praised Cartwright for helping grow the school foundation’s endowment from $163 million to $262 million.
Several major projects are underway, from building a bigger nursing school to expanding the football stadium.
“President Cartwright firmly believes that a vision without resources is just a hallucination, and he has worked closely with state leaders, community partners, and university supporters to secure the investments necessary for UCF’s future,” Martins wrote.
Cartwright thanked the state after his contract was renewed, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
“I do want to thank the state of Florida, our legislature, the governor’s office, everybody who has supported us in this vision of being Florida’s premier engineering and technology university,” Cartwright said. “It is the future. It’s what we need to be doing for Florida.”
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Multiple candidates are emerging to succeed term-limited Chuck Brannan in North Florida’s House District 10, which encompasses Baker, Bradford, Columbia, Union, and northern Alachua Counties.
Marshall Rawson, a member of the Florida Guard who aided Gov. Ron DeSantis’ illegal immigration fight in Texas, is looking to take his talents back to Tallahassee, where the University of Florida-trained lawyer served under Secretary of State Cord Byrd as a legal aide in addition to interning at the Department of Agriculture.
Unsurprisingly given his experience in Florida’s expedition to stem the tide of extralegal migration over the Mexican border, Lawson sees mitigation of Joe Biden’s border policies as central to his mission should he be elected.
“With the election of President Trump, voters sent a resounding message that the invasion at the border must be stopped and that corrections must be made, I will stand with our President and Governor to make this a reality while offering real, sustainable and long term solutions to the labor crisis throughout our state,” said Rawson, who is the North Florida Regional Director of the Republican Liberty Caucus.
It’s more than just the border for the candidate though.
“Florida has been the recognized leader of the states that rose up to push back against the Biden agenda and the radical left. The states have always been our safeguards for freedom, and to keep Florida strong, we must tackle the cost of living crisis, cut property taxes, stop the cannibalization of our vital rural farmlands and greenspaces, and protect our most vulnerable seniors and the unborn,” he said.
Rawson is the second filed candidate, joining Chase Brannan, the son of the outgoing lawmaker, in the field.
“My family history extends eight generations deep in Florida, especially in North Central Florida,” Brannan said earlier this month.
“Because of conservative principles instilled in me since childhood, I understand the value of community work and service to others. Therefore, I humbly offer my candidacy to serve as State Representative to the people of North Central Florida. I have seen first-hand how government can be used for the greater good but also harm the people of Florida. I will always fight to ensure the government serves the people. I strive to bring accessibility, conservative and rural values, and fairness to the citizens of North Central Florida.”
The winner of the GOP Primary will likely score an easy win in next November’s General Election, given the district’s strong conservative lean. In his final campaign for the seat, Chuck Brannan defeated Democrat Bobby Brady 74% to 26% last fall.
Rawson’s promise of standing with the Governor on police seems especially pointed at a moment when DeSantis has heavily criticized and even suggested he will fund Primary opponents for lawmakers who backed a Legislature-driven immigration bill over his proposal earlier this week. Rep. Brannon supported the bill.
But Rawson also comes from the agricultural sector, which has been in the middle of the controversy this week as DeSantis suggested many growers rely too heavily on cheap undocumented labor. Rawson owns and operates Free State Growers. He also served as an intern to former U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, a Georgia Republican with one of Congress’ most conservative records during his time in office.
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Jacob Ogles contributed to this report.
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