The US Supreme Court looks likely to uphold a law set to come into place in just over a week that would ban TikTok in the country.

Restrictions could be enforced in America within days unless the social network is sold by its Chinese owners.

A lower court ruled to uphold the ban last month, with it set to come into effect on January 19th.

Lawyers representing ByteDance, TikTok’s owner, say China has never attempted to misuse sensitive data.

Instagram and TikTok application icon on mobile phone screen. Popular social media apps. Afyonkarahisar, Turkey - April 15, 2022.

US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar has said the app is a threat to national security because it has data on 170 million Americans – many of them teenagers.

“They might become members of our military, they might become senior government officials, and for the Chinese government to have this vast trove of incredibly sensitive data about them, I think obviously exposes our nation as a whole to a risk of espionage and blackmail,” she said.

The company has repeatedly denied that user data could be used for this purpose.

Europe

The app has also come under scrutiny in Europe, following suspected interference by Russia in Romania’s presidential election.

The European Commission opened formal proceedings against TikTok in December over a suspected breach of the Digital Services Act in relation to the platform’s obligation to act on election integrity risks.

A court in the country annulled the election in its second round, over concerns that first round results were compromised by a ‘state actor’.

It's widely believed that state actor is Russia.

The Albanian government also plans to block access to TikTok after the killing of a 14-year-old boy led to concerns about social media's influence on children.

The proposed ban would last for a year starting in 2025.

Featured image: TikTok on a phone, © PA Archive/PA Images