The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear TikTok's last-ditch legal arguments about why it should not be banned or sold in the United States.

The U.S. government is taking action against the app because it says it has ties to the Chinese government, a link that TikTok and its parent company ByteDance deny.

Supreme Court justice takes no action TikTok requests emergency ban It violates the law, but TikTok and ByteDance will be allowed to appeal on January 10 (9 days before the ban takes effect).

Early December, Federal appeals court rejects sought to overturn the legislation, saying it was "the culmination of extensive bipartisan action by Congress and past presidents."

The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body in the United States, and its decision to accept the TikTok case is significant because it hears only about 100 cases out of more than 7,000 petitions it receives every year.

TikTok has previously argued that attempts to ban it were unconstitutional because it would impact users' freedom of expression in the country.

TikTok said on Wednesday it was satisfied with the Supreme Court order.

"We are confident the courts will rule the TikTok ban unconstitutional so that the more than 170 million Americans on our platform can continue to exercise their right to free speech," a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement to the BBC.

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said the appeal raises a conflict between free speech and national security.

"The Court of Appeals found that national security outweighed First Amendment claims," ​​Tobias said in an email. "However, the justices will carefully examine potentially conflicting but significant values."

While it's difficult to predict the outcome, Cornell University professor Sarah Kreps said it would be surprising for the court to overturn its previous ruling and go against the wishes of Congress and the White House.

Dr. Kreps said: “This case has been heard by the executive branch, the legislative branch and the lower courts, and all courts have supported China’s contention that ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok poses a national security risk.”

However, TikTok's future depends on more than just the legal process - Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election could also throw it a lifeline.

He met with TikTok boss Shou Zi Chew on Monday BBC US partner CBS News reported that he held the meeting at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, citing people familiar with the matter.

Trump has publicly stated his opposition to the ban, despite supporting one during his first term as president.

But he won't take office until January 20, the day after the deadline for TikTok to be banned or sold.

"I have a warm place in my heart for TikTok because I won the support of young people by a 34-point margin," he claimed at a press conference on Monday, although a majority of 18 to 29-year-olds supported him. Opponent Kamala Harris.

“Some people say TikTok has something to do with this,” he said.

But despite Trump's support, senior Senate Republican Mitch McConnell urged the Supreme Court to reject TikTok's takeover bid.

In a brief filed with the court, he called the company's arguments "baseless and unreasonable."

However, TikTok has received support from some civil liberties groups.

Some of them have filed a joint court filing urging it to block a ban on the platform, which they argue is "used by millions of people every day to communicate, learn about the world and express themselves."

Kelsey Chickering of market research firm Forrester said that Instagram's parent company Meta will be the main beneficiary of the TikTok ban.

Ms. Chickering said: “TikTok is at the heart of the booming creator economy, and a ban will effectively form a Meta monopoly on short videos.” She cited a Forrester survey that found that 56% of TikTok users would switch to TikTok in the event. Instagram Reels.