The Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments on Jan. 10 over whether the law to force a sale of TikTok from its parent company or face a ban is constitutional

The Supreme Court announced Wednesday that it will review a legal challenge to a new law that could result in a U.S. ban on TikTok, setting the stage for a significant legal battle over access to the widely popular app, which is used by tens of millions of Americans.

The court scheduled oral arguments for January 10, expediting the case to allow a decision before the law is set to take effect on January 19. In its brief order, the Supreme Court instructed the Justice Department, TikTok’s legal team, and representatives for a group of users opposing the law to prepare arguments on whether the ban violates the First Amendment.

TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, had earlier asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block enforcement of the law while appealing a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. However, the high court deferred consideration of that emergency relief request until after the oral arguments.

The TikTok Ban

"Congress’s unprecedented attempt to single out applicants and bar them from operating one of the nation’s most significant speech platforms raises grave constitutional issues that this Court is unlikely to permit," TikTok’s lawyers wrote in their request.

On December 6, TikTok faced a setback when a D.C. Circuit panel rejected its bid to overturn the law. Shortly after, the appeals court also denied TikTok's request to delay the law’s enforcement while the case was under Supreme Court review.

The law, passed in April as part of a foreign assistance package, gives TikTok nine months to sever ties with ByteDance or face removal from app stores and web-hosting platforms in the U.S. President Biden quickly signed the measure, which is slated to take effect January 19, though a one-time 90-day delay can be granted by the president if a divestiture is underway.

Former President Donald Trump previously attempted to ban TikTok during his term but reversed course during his re-election campaign, expressing support for the app, which he credited for helping him gain youth voter support. Trump recently told reporters he would “take a look at TikTok” and met with TikTok CEO Shou Chew at Mar-a-Lago.

Although the Biden administration will argue the government’s case before the Supreme Court, TikTok is hoping for intervention from either the court or Trump.

Appeals Court Ruling

In its December 6 decision, the appeals court sided with the government, citing concerns over the Chinese government’s potential access to Americans’ data and its ability to covertly influence content on the platform. The court ruled that these concerns represent a "compelling national security interest," dismissing TikTok’s argument that the risks were speculative.

The court acknowledged the implications of its decision for TikTok’s users. “Millions of users will need to find alternative communication platforms,” Senior Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote, attributing the disruption to the Chinese government’s hybrid commercial threat, not the U.S. government.

TikTok’s Defense

TikTok has argued that it was never presented with a viable choice between divestment or a ban, asserting that a forced sale is "commercially, technologically, and legally impossible." The Chinese government has vowed to block any sale of TikTok’s algorithm, which personalizes content recommendations for users. Without access to this algorithm, a buyer would need to rebuild the app’s core functionality.

TikTok’s petition described the platform as “millions of lines of software code developed over years by thousands of engineers,” asserting that rebuilding it under the law’s constraints is “not remotely feasible.”