The United States Supreme Court announced on Wednesday that it will hear TikTok‘s challenge to a law effectively banning its distribution to Americans unless the social media app’s Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, divests from the platform. Additionally, the high court has agreed to expedite the case with oral arguments slated for January 10, 2025.

Since the divestment requirement and potential ban were enacted by Congress in March, TikTok has fought them through litigation, arguing that the law violates the First Amendment. However, earlier this month, a U.S. federal appeals court held that the narrow language of the statute—specifically applying to companies controlled by hostile foreign governments—does not infringe on the Chinese-controlled company’s constitutional rights.

“The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” the appeals court panel held in its ruling, arguing: “Here, the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.”

The appeals court noted that the legal burden of the ban rests with ByteDance, which is tightly intertwined with the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) and its foreign intelligence and military networks. While TikTok has claimed it built a sufficient firewall to prevent ByteDance employees and Chinese government operatives from accessing U.S. user data, numerous whistleblowers have come forward with evidence this is not the case. These revelations underpin Congress’s legal claim to national security authority as justification for the law.

Despite the law’s narrow language and national security implications, TikTok’s constitutional challenge could result in the Supreme Court establishing a broader precedent on the limits of corporate speech and the government’s national security authority.

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