DETROIT – The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the TikTok ban or sale law, which will take effect on Sunday.
“TikTok is very unique. I will miss it if it goes away,” Detroit-based Content Creator RV Mendoza said.
Mendoza began making content for TikTok to buy their mother a treadmill, which Mendoza was able to make happen.
“One of the things that is disappointing is that I’m having a really viral moment on TikTok right now to the point where Lizzo is commenting on this video about loving my body," Mendoza said.
The justices rejected a free speech challenge filed by the China-based company.
The law requires TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, to divest itself of the company.
The law resulted from national security concerns, which the court acknowledged.
“They really were taken by the fact that this is a major national security issue, and even though the speech, the free speech, of so many people will be limited as they lose the TikTok platform, it really is a balance between the rights and ability to protect over 170 million Americans' personal data from the Chinese,” Butzel Long Attorney Jennifer Dukarski said.
People from all walks of life use TikTok, including government officials. The city of Detroit has an account to reach residents.
“Our social media platforms are everything for us in the city. We communicate and get across just many messages on a daily basis,” said Detroit Deputy Mayor Melia Howard, who also uses TikTok personally.
The outgoing Biden administration has indicated that they will leave it up to the Trump administration to enforce the ban.
President-elect Trump said on social media he will be making a decision soon on TikTok.
For more information about Mendoza, here’s how you can follow him: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rvxmendoza/ and TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rvxmendoza.