Legal experts, privacy groups and parents alike applauded the Supreme Court’s Friday ruling upholding a federal law banning TikTok unless it is divested from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, while others deemed it as “anti-democratic.”
The ban is set to go into effect on Sunday.
“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the court wrote in the unsigned ruling. “But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”
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Former Vice President Mike Pence turned to X and called the decision “a victory for the privacy and security of the American people.”
“This law was the result of a bipartisan cooperation and I commend it’s authors and supporters in Congress for enacting this vital law for our national security,” he continued. The CCP has been put on notice that the American people’s data is no longer for the taking. The incoming Trump administration must be prepared to uphold this TikTok divestment law and put the privacy and security of America first.”
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., likewise said the Supreme Court “correctly rejected TikTok’s lies and propaganda masquerading as legal arguments” in a post on X.
“ByteDance and its Chinese Communist masters had nine months to sell TikTok before the Sunday deadline,” the senator wrote. “The very fact that Communist China refuses to permit its sale reveals exactly what TikTok is: a communist spy app. The Supreme Court correctly rejected TikTok’s lies and propaganda masquerading as legal arguments.”
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., said the decision was “unsurprising, and the answer is that the Chinese government needs to give up control of TikTok.”
Carrie Severino, President of Judicial Crisis Network, echoed Cotton’s sentiments, also saying in a statement that the high court “rightly recognizes the danger of the Chinese Communist Party being able to access and maliciously deploy the data of hundreds of millions of Americans.”
READ THE SUPREME COURT RULING ON TIKTOK LAW – APP USERS, CLICK HERE
President Biden notably maintained his stance that he would enforce the law banning the social media app and would instead punt the implementation to President-elect Donald Trump and his incoming administration.
Severino stated she hopes “that President Trump’s incoming administration vigorously enforces this important national security law.”
Executive Director of American Parents Coalition Alleigh Marré also posted on X reacting to the holding. “This is a huge win for parents! Kids will be free from TikTok’s poison, its powerful, dangerous algorithm and compromising influences.”
“I am incredibly proud to see that the highest court in the land has agreed that our elected officials hold the power to protect our national security from our most powerful foreign adversaries,” said Michael Lucci, Founder and CEO of State Arumor, in a statement. “This decision is a vindication of the tireless work of so many patriotic groups, including State Armor, have done over the last year to make the public and lawmakers aware of the dangers that TikTok poses.”
Lucci continued on to call for TikTok’s sale to an American company “or immediately cease all operations within the United States, per the Supreme Court’s decision.”
Others reacted to the Supreme Court’s decision with disappointment, including Electronic Frontier Foundation Civil Liberties Director David Greene who called the holding “anti-democratic.”
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“Shutting down communications platforms or forcing their reorganization based on concerns of foreign propaganda and anti-national manipulation is an eminently anti-democratic tactic, one that the U.S. has previously condemned globally,” he said in a statement released.
Likewise, Dean of UC Berkeley School of Law Erwin Chemerinsky told Fox News Digital in a statement that he believes the Court was “wrong” in its decision.
“Although unanimous, I think the Court was wrong,” Chemerinsky said. “It accepted uncritically the government’s argument that China being able to gather information would harm national security; it never explained what kind of information is likely to be gathered to what effect.
“The impact on speech is staggering to ban a platform used by 173 million people in this country,” he continued.
Just last year, Congress required that TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance divest the company by Jan. 19. The law was subsequently signed by Biden.
When the law was passed, Congress specifically noted concerns over the app’s Chinese ownership, which members said meant the app had the potential to be weaponized or used to amass vast amounts of user data, including from the roughly 170 million Americans who use TikTok.
Fox News Digital’s Breanne Deppisch contributed to this report.
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