Tik Tok oral arguments included level of scrutiny to be applied; Whether 1st Amendment is the primary or incidental issue secondary to Chinese Manipulative Influence and Feasibility of administrate delays until Trump takes office. Is Tik Tok platform as we know likely coming to an end?

Justices potentially appeared open to several options including issuing an administrative stay of a preliminary order which will go past January 19, when law goes into effect so Trump can intervene via a political solution.

It is also possible a significant majority of the Supreme Court will adopt a mid-level scrutiny [reasonable standards requirements] finding that the case primarily involves a foreign adversary and private information of 170 million Americans which can later be used to influence or even blackmail one or more of them. They could find that although the First Amendment is implicated with respect to American users, it is merely incidental to the data storage issue and secondary to PRC's potential manipulative actions which US seeks to prevent.

Were the court to adopt the government's position [a ban absent a divesture of the platform] notwithstanding First Amendment Rights; with a strict scrutiny standard U.S. could possibly meet the test [compelling state interest] based on National Security Importance.

Is Tik Tok platform as we know likely coming to an end?

Transcript below:

https://www.techpolicy.press/transcript-us-supreme-court-oral-argument-on-tiktok/