The United States (U.S.) Supreme Court has upheld a law that would ban TikTok, the popular short video app, in the U.S. unless its parent company ByteDance, based in China, sells the platform by January 19th.
TikTok must now find an approved buyer for the U.S. version of the app or face shutdown in the U.S.
The reason for this decision is concern over national security.
The justices unanimously concluded that the law, which was passed last year by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress and challenged by ByteDance on the grounds that it violates free speech protections for more than 170 million U.S. users of the app, does not breach the protections of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. officials and lawmakers have accused ByteDance of being connected to the Chinese government and have expressed national security concerns over TikTok.
