Amidst all of the distractions such as the wild fires of California, Trump’s impending inauguration to which he will officially take office on Monday, January 20th, Hostage negotiations in the middle east, etc., ect, the case to ban Tik Tok reached the Supreme court on the grounds that it violated 1st Amendment rights has been quietly being litigated in the courts. However the argument in which Tik Tok was banned due to security issues because it is being owned by a foreign adversary such as China was upheld by SCOTUS.
The ban is to take place on the 19th one day before Trump’s inauguration who he personally requested for more time in order to negotiate a deal in which the company “Byte Dance” can be purchased by an American company. Many of its users started the migration over to another Chinese owned social media company called 'Red Book" which is far worse than Tik Tok and many are wondering if the same rules will apply to that company as well in terms of posing as a national security risk muck like on the same grounds as Tik Tok.
The problem that many have argued in regards to Tik Tok is the fact there was no legal recourse that could be taken if Tik Tok violated US law, because Tik Tok is not head quartered in the US much like other social media companies are and therefore by proxy is not obligated to follow US law. The other issue is the data collection of over 170 million subscribers personal information that a foreign adversary like China is collecting and thus is deemed a threat to national security interests. On the latter is what the Supreme Court ruled on to uphold the ban, which in my opinion was the correct decision.
This case will have far reaching implications in regards to US relations with China and the Tariff war that is about to start that will affect China and other Foreign countries such as the EU. Part of this shift is also addressing another thorny issue in Silicon Valley with IP theft, spying, and threats particularly on the domestic front after a wide open border has allowed millions to enter the country undetected. This is just a start for more things to come.
For a more detailed explanation of SCOTUS’s ruling here is a link