Supreme Court hears challenge to TikTok divestiture law, justices split over speech and security

The Supreme Court heard oral argument in TikTok v. Garland, a challenge to a federal statute that requires a qualified divestiture of TikTok's parent company or otherwise bars the app from operating in the United States.

Mister Francisco, counsel for TikTok Incorporated, told the Court that “Under the act, one of America’s most popular speech platforms will shut down in nine days,” arguing the statute imposes a direct burden on TikTok’s editorial algorithm and therefore triggers the First Amendment. Francisco urged the Court to view the divestiture requirement as a content-based restriction that must survive strict scrutiny and said Congress failed to consider less-restrictive alternatives such as a ban on sharing sensitive U.S. user data with the foreign parent or targeted disclosure rules.

Nut graf: The case asks the justices to balance two competing sets of concerns: whether Congress may require a foreign-controlled company to divest to protect national security, and whether that remedy unlawfully restricts speech by U.S. users, creators and a U.S. subsidiary that uses a recommendation algorithm…