Ebrius Disputatios

The US Supreme Court Unanimously Upheld A Ban On The Social Network Operating Under Its Current Ownership Structure.

The US Supreme Court yesterday unanimously upheld the provision of the law adopted last April to ban TikTok from operating in the US while maintaining the current ownership structure, which implies the subordination of the social network to the Chinese company ByteDance. The chance to maintain the opportunity to work in the United States for TikTok was provided only if the American business was sold to one of the American companies. As CNBC notes, representatives of TikTok announced their readiness to disconnect American users on Sunday, when the law nominally comes into force. American users will not be able to access either the TikTok mobile app or the TikTok website tomorrow.

The court's decision will also affect American companies. Google and Apple will be forced to remove the TikTok app from their app stores for US users, and Oracle will be forced to shut down the cloud infrastructure that processes data intended for and hosted by US users. If these companies do not obey the law, they will face heavy fines.

At the same time, the Biden administration, which adopted the relevant law, emphasized in its opening speech that the team of Donald Trump, who will take office as US President next Monday, will have to deal with its implementation. Trump himself said that he would make his decision on TikTok’s activities in the United States in the near future, but he would need time to assess the situation. The previous US administration insists that TikTok can remain accessible to American audiences, but only if it belongs to an American company.