TikTok is going to appear in front of the United States Supreme Court in an eleventh hour attempt to overturn a ban in a case of national security.

The famous social networking platform is appealing a regulation imposed last year that required the company to separate from its Chinese owner or be barred from entering the United States by January 19.

The US government claims that without a sale, China may exploit TikTok for privacy invasion and political influence. However, TikTok denies this statement, claiming that company has been unfairly prosecuted and that the legislation violates the free expression rights of its approximately 170 million American users.

Lower courts have ruled in favor of the government, but the matter became more difficult last month when President-elect Donald Trump intervened and requested that the legislation be suspended to give him time to reach an agreement.

Among the Biden administration's main claims is that TikTok poses a "grave" threat to national security, both because it gathers "vast swaths of data" on tens of millions of Americans and because China may "covertly manipulate" the site to foment dissension and disinformation. If a majority of justices appear to support that assertion, it would be a terrible indication for TikTok.

When it comes to national security, the Supreme Court has a long tradition of deferring to the other parts of government. In early December, a federal appeals court unanimously ruled that the government had demonstrated a necessity to compel TikTok to separate from its Chinese-based parent firm, ByteDance, or comply with the prohibition.