Professor Shubha Ghosh Discusses the Latest on the Tik Tok Ban

Crandall Melvin Professor of Law Shubha Ghosh spoke with The Hill for the story “Trump, GOP China hawks at odds over TikTok ban.”

The divest-or-ban law, passed by Congress in 2024 and recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, gave TikTok’s parent company Bytedance until January 19, 2025, to divest. The law also allowed the president to issue a 90-day extension if the company is making progress toward a divestiture. It’s unclear if President Trump’s executive order uses that clause.

“The statute itself does allow him to stay [the ban] or to give an extension. And if he’s working within that, then it certainly would be legal for him to do, as long as he’s within his parameters,” said Ghosh.

He earlier spoke with KAAL-TV about Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that weighed national security apprehensions versus First Amendment freedom of speech concerns. “If manipulation is a justification for what Congress does and that overcomes you know first amendment concerns, then maybe Congress has been given more authority to go after not only foreign manipulation, but also domestic manipulation,” said Ghosh.

His comments are at 1:01 and 1:20 of the news story.