Diverging views raise the stakes for the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, as it prepares to decide the fate of the app on Friday, January 10.
But why has the ban been proposed in the first place, when could it be introduced, and is there any way it could be avoided?
Why would TikTok be banned in the US?
Friday’s case will see arguments made for free speech rights, with others focusing predominantly on national security concerns.
“This is the most significant free speech case in at least a generation,” said Timothy Edgar, a former US national security and intelligence official who has worked in both Republican and Democratic presidential administrations.
“If we consider that there are 170 million active monthly users of TikTok in the United States, the volume of free speech at risk is the largest of any Supreme Court case in American history,” added Edgar, who now teaches cybersecurity at Brown University and joined a brief backing TikTok in the case.
When would TikTok be banned?
For the ban to come into effect, TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance is now being required to sell the platform, or face a US ban on January 19.
The huge dispute goes before the top US judicial body at a time of growing trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies and just 10 days before Mr Trump is due to enter his second term as president.
His lawyer John Sauer wrote in a filing, asking the justices to put the law on hold, noting that “President Trump opposes banning TikTok in the United States at this juncture, and seeks the ability to resolve the issues at hand through political means once he takes office”.
Meanwhile, many Republican lawmakers and officials are pressing the court – whose conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump during his first term as president – to back the Biden administration in its defence of the measure.
Republican attorneys general from 22 states filed a brief with the court disagreeing with TikTok’s arguments and asking the justices to uphold the statute.
Could Kevin O’Leary buy TikTok?
The Canadian businessman said he has joined with Frank McCourt (in the potential multibillion-dollar deal) from the People’s Bid for TikTok – a group looking to purchase the social media platforms.
“Trump will be who we have to work with to close the deal in the months ahead,” O’Leary said on Fox News’ The Story with Martha MacCallum on Monday.
He added: “So I wanted to let him know, as well as others in his cabinet, that we’re doing this, and we’re going to need their help.”
However, he did not elaborate on the mechanics of the incoming administration’s support for the purchase.
