TikTok told the Supreme Court on Friday to reject the federal government’s claim that it and owner ByteDance have no First Amendment rights as a foreign-owned company, calling the Biden administration’s position wrong and a dangerous precedent.

The company has asked the court to strike down a law forcing it to divest by Jan. 19 from its Chinese ownership — or at the very least, to issue an injunction halting the law from taking effect.

In a filing, TikTok said it’s been recognized as “a bona fide American company.”

“The startling proposition that there should be no judicial scrutiny of a law shuttering a speech platform used by 170 million Americans would mean Congress could ban [TikTok] from operating TikTok explicitly because they refused to censor views Congress disfavors or to promote views it likes,” read TikTok’s filing Friday.

“And if accepted, this theory would strip First Amendment rights from any American speaker who publishes content that may reflect input from foreign entities or who is purportedly vulnerable to coercion from them.  All this is obviously wrong,” the company argued.

The justices will weigh TikTok’s case on Jan. 10 in an expedited manner — just nine days before the law is set to take effect.

A group of users also challenging the law say the platform helps their businesses in ways other social media platforms cannot because of TikTok’s editing tools and recommendations via video sharing.

In their filing on Friday, they argue TikTok could be forced to disclose any foreign influence, but Congress cannot legally ban it, reasoning foreign influence concerns “provide no basis to suppress speech altogether (through a forced sale or otherwise).”

The legislation, approved by Congress and signed by President Biden in April, won bipartisan support from lawmakers who say TikTok poses a national security threat by collecting user data. The concern is that the Chinese government could use that data.

The Justice Department said TikTok received direction about content on its platform from the Chinese government.

In its filing with the high court last week, President Biden’s Justice Department said the First Amendment does not apply to the foreign-owned company, ByteDance. The Justice Department also says the requirement to divest is content-neutral and not in response to any speech.

“As a threshold matter, the Act’s prohibition on foreign-adversary ownership and control does not implicate the First Amendment rights,” the DOJ filing read.

TikTok has lost in lower court, and the justices refused to issue an injunction halting the law from taking effect, putting off that decision until after they hear from the parties.

President-elect Donald Trump, meanwhile, filed a brief last week asking the justices to issue an injunction against the law so he can potentially reach a new agreement that doesn’t jeopardize free speech rights or national security concerns.

Mr. Trump’s brief was filed on behalf of neither TikTok or the federal government looking to ban it. Instead, he took the stance that he is fond of social media and the First Amendment, but also recognizes that there are national security concerns. He wants the court to delay the law to give him a chance to address those concerns in office.

Mr. Trump has more than 14 million followers on TikTok and has credited the platform with helping him win support from young voters.

Mr. Trump’s position on TikTok has changed. He initially recognized it as a national security threat, but has since created an account and softened his stance. In a post on Truth Social in September, he said he would “save TikTok in America.”

• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.