TikTok, ByteDance and several users of the app sued to halt the ban, arguing it would suppress free speech for the millions of Americans who use the platform.

The Supreme Court unanimously found the new law that could lead to a ban of TikTok does not violate the First Amendment rights of the platform or its users.

Donald Trump had asked the Supreme Court to delay TikTok’s ban-or-sale law to give him an opportunity to act once he returns to the White House.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision could come Friday in the case about whether TikTok must shut down in a few days under a federal law that seeks to force its sale by the Chinese company that owns the social media platform.

The company argued that the law, citing potential Chinese threats to the nation’s security, violated its First Amendment rights and those of its 170 million users.

ByteDance has so far rebuffed the idea of selling TikTok. But the lawyer for the US government told the Supreme Court that a ban might be just the “jolt” needed to persuade it to consider the idea, noting that restrictions could be lifted once a deal materialises.

The Supreme Court agreed Friday to review whether schools may read LGBTQ+ books to elementary school students without giving parents the ability to opt their children out on religious grounds.

The decision came a week after the justices heard a First Amendment challenge to a law aimed at the wildly popular short-form video platform used by 170 million Americans that the government fears could be influenced by China.

TikTok is set to be banned in the US on 19 January after the Supreme Court denied a last ditch legal bid from its Chinese owner, ByteDance. It found the law banning the social media platform did not violate the first amendment rights of TikTok and its 170 million users, as the companies argued.

When the Supreme Court justices first shared an inaugural stage with Donald Trump, they heard the new president deliver a 16-minute declaration against the country and vow, “This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.

During his four years as president, Democrat Joe Biden experienced a sustained series of defeats at the U.S. Supreme Court, whose ascendant conservative majority blew holes in his agenda and dashed precedents long cherished by American liberals.