The Supreme Court appears poised to uphold a law that bans TikTok in the US over national security concerns unless its China-based parent company sells the platform ahead of a 19 January deadline.

The Court’s nine justices heard from lawyers representing TikTok, and content creators that the ban would be a violation of free speech protections for the platform’s more than 170 million users in the US.

The US government argued that without a sale, TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation.

A decision by the top court has to be made within days. President-elect Donald Trump – who returns to the White House in just over a week – now argues against the ban.