The Supreme Court of the United States validated this Friday a law that requires that the popular social network TikTok be sold or, otherwise, be banned in the country.
The court pointed out in its ruling that “there is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a rich and distinctive means of expression, a means of interaction, and a source of community. But Congress has determined that divestment is necessary to address its well-founded national security concerns about TikTok’s data collection practices and its relationship with a foreign adversary,” referring to China.
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“We conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate the rights” of TikTok, which alleged that the ban was against the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which protects freedom of expression.
In this way, the Supreme Court maintains in effect a law approved by both houses of Congress and signed by President Joe Biden on April 24, which established a limit of 270 days for TikTok’s parent company, the Chinese company ByteDance, to sell the social network to an entity that is not considered an adversary of the United States or, otherwise, is prohibited in the country’s mobile application stores and internet services.
The deadline for the sale expires this Sunday, January 19.
In recent days, James Stephen “Jimmy” Donaldson, 26 years old and known by the nickname MrBeast, owner of the channel with the most subscribers on YouTube, and with more than 106.9 million followers on TikTok, tried the possibility of buying the platform from ByteDance.
On January 13, in an apparent joke posted on X, MrBeast wrote: “Okay, I’ll buy TikTok so they don’t ban it.” The publication has reached more than 32 million views.
The next morning, MrBeast commented: “Ironically, many billionaires have contacted me since I tweeted this. Let’s see if we can do it.”
TikTok, its importance and its controversies
TiKTok was originally launched in September 2016 for the Chinese market and the following year internationally for iOS and Android devices.
Characterized by its short, vertical videos, the app experienced tremendous growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2021 the company advertisement which exceeded one billion active users.
And study of Oxford Economics on the economic impact of TikTok in the United States, released in April 2024, noted that the use of the social network by small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) generated “a contribution of 24.2 billion dollars to GDP” of the country in 2023, supporting 224,000 jobs that year.
At the same time, the platform has been embroiled in controversy over its content and reports that have pointed to its addictive potential.
But the critical point that led to the law banning TikTok from being sold is its relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, said at a US Senate hearing in March 2024 that TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, “is, for all intents and purposes, beholden to the CCP.”
Questioned by Senator Marco Rubio, Wray pointed out that ByteDance could hand over the information collected by its platform to the Chinese government or even give in to requests to manipulate the algorithm in order to spread information harmful to the United States.
“Those types of influence operations, or different types of influence operations (…), are extraordinarily difficult to detect, which is part of what makes the national security concerns that TikTok represents so important,” Wray said on that occasion.
The final decision could fall to Donald Trump
In a statement published Following the Supreme Court ruling, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the outgoing Biden administration would not implement the ban and would leave the issue in the hands of Donald Trump’s administration, which will take office on Monday, January 20.
“The Administration, like the rest of the country, has been waiting for the decision that the United States Supreme Court has just made on the TikTok matter,” said the White House Press Secretary.
“President Biden’s position on TikTok has been clear for months, even since Congress overwhelmingly and bipartisanly sent a bill to the president’s desk: TikTok must continue to be available to Americans, but under U.S. or other ownership.” that resolves the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law.”
“Given the simple matter of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday,” he said.
In June 2024, in a video Posted on that social network, Trump assured: “I am going to save TikTok.”
According to public CNN, at the end of December 2024, the president-elect of the United States sent a brief to the Supreme Court asking the judges to postpone their decision on the social network case until he assumes his government.
Mike Waltz, Donald Trump’s national security adviser, said on January 15 in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier that the president-elect could suspend enforcement of the law banning TikTok through an executive order.
“If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the law, President Trump has been very clear. First, TikTok is a platform widely used by many Americans and has been instrumental in his campaign and in spreading his message,” he said. Waltz.
However, he added, Trump will protect Americans’ data, and recalled that the president-elect “is a negotiator. “I don’t want to get ahead of our executive orders, but we are going to create this space to put that agreement into motion.”
Catholics, TikTok and the impact of its eventual ban
Among the millions of content creators who have a presence on TikTok is a large number of Catholics, some of them with a significant number of followers.
This is the case, for example, of Catholic Linka platform focused on digital evangelization that has more than 167,700 followers in your TikTok account.
This January 17, Mauricio Artieda, its founder and executive director, indicated that they remain waiting for what happens with the social network “so that our American users do not lose access to our content.”
“Otherwise, with great regret they will not be able to follow us on that network and will have to opt for Instagram and Facebook,” he said.
In recent statements to the National Catholic Register (owned by EWTN, the parent company to which ACI Prensa also belongs) about his pastoral work on that social network, the young priest David Michael Moses, who has 325,000 followers on TikToksaid that although the app may be considered a “bad neighborhood,” “every bad neighborhood should have a Catholic church and a priest there.”
“I would not recommend my nephews and nieces to connect to TikTok. But, just like in a bad neighborhood, there are souls there that need to be cared for, and that is what missionary work is all about,” he said.
However, an eventual closure is not a big concern for the 31-year-old priest either. “I have no problem continuing with my ministry, but I also would have no problem if I had to leave if they closed the platform,” he said.
“Wherever the souls are, that’s where we go,” he added.
A similar perspective was expressed to the Register by Ursula Murúa, director of Digital Strategy and Social Media at EWTN News, who spoke in favor of “a cautious approach to the use of social networks among children, and my recommendation is that children avoid them. ”.
To those who follow the TikTok accounts of the different EWTN News outlets, he said, “we try to present a vision of the treasure of our faith and feed curiosity towards the Catholic Church. “We see TikTok as a platform for the discovery of Catholicism.”
However, “while banning TikTok would close one avenue of outreach, we are prepared to pivot to emerging platforms, ensuring that our mission of Catholic evangelization continues uninterrupted in the ever-evolving digital landscape.”
“The EWTN News digital team has experienced and enthusiastic Catholic media professionals who are trying to reach souls everywhere,” he said.
David Ramos
Graduated in Communication Sciences from the Universidad Privada del Norte in Trujillo, Peru. With more than 12 years of experience in Catholic journalism working at ACI Prensa, I have been based in Mexico since 2018. I have covered Pope Francis’ trips to Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Panama.