The law, which was\u00a0signed off by US President Joe Biden in April<\/a><\/strong>, requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance by mid-January – or else it will be blocked in the country.<\/p>\n It was introduced following concern from some US politicians that the company might share user data with the Chinese government, despite repeated assurances from the firm that it would not.<\/p>\n Critics have also expressed fears that\u00a0Chinese authorities<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0may be able to manipulate TikTok’s algorithms, shaping what content users see and are influenced by. This claim is also denied.<\/p>\n TikTok and ByteDance are now set to launch\u00a0another appeal<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to the US Supreme Court.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, the two firms could also be thrown a lifeline by Donald Trump<\/a><\/strong>, who is due to be sworn in as president on 20 January.<\/p>\n Despite trying to introduce his own TikTok<\/a><\/strong> ban during his first term as president, the Republican has since changed his mind.<\/p>\n He said during the 2024 presidential campaign that he wanted to “save” the app and expressed concern that a ban would help its rival Facebook.<\/p>\n Mr Trump also signed up to TikTok and currently has more than 14 million followers on the site, although he has not posted anything since his election victory.<\/p>\n Reacting to Friday’s court ruling, a TikTok statement said: “The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue.<\/p>\n “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people.”<\/p>\n It added: “The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on 19 January 2025.”<\/p>\n Similar security concerns over TikTok prompted ministers in the UK to\u00a0ban the app from government phones<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in March last year.<\/p>\n Some 13 US states and Washington DC also\u00a0launched legal action<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0against the social media platform in October, alleging it was harming children’s mental health and was not doing enough to protect them.<\/p>\n TikTok dismissed the claims as “inaccurate and misleading”.<\/p>\n Source: \u00a0![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/e3.365dm.com\/24\/12\/768x432\/skynews-tiktok-ban_6768568.jpg?20241206174937\")
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