Supreme Court justices skeptical of TikTok’s free speech arguments ahead of potential ban [Video]

Supreme Court justices posed tough questions to the lawyer representing TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, on Friday over a law that would force a sale or ban the widely used short-video app by Jan. 19 in the United States in a case that pits free speech rights against national security concerns.

TikTok and ByteDance, as well as some users who post content on the app, have challenged a law passed by Congress with strong bipartisan support last year and signed by outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden, whose administration is defending it.

During arguments in the case, the nine justices probed the nature of TikTok’s speech rights and the government’s concerns over national security — that the app would enable China’s government to spy on Americans and carry out covert influence operations.

TikTok, ByteDance and the app users appealed a lower court’s ruling that upheld the law and rejected …