The lawyer for TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance offered a warning during Supreme Court arguments over a law that would compel the sale of the short-video app or ban it in the United States: If Congress could do this to TikTok,

Congress labeled the app’s Chinese ownership a national security risk and passed a law that would ban the social media platform unless it was sold. TikTok and creators say that violates their free speech rights.

At issue is the constitutionality of legislation passed by Congress and signed into federal law in April 2024 that could force TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell the app to a U.S.