TikTok Ban Upheld by Supreme Court, Unfazed by First Amendment Claims

The US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that could pave the way the US ban on TikTok will be implemented immediately on Sunday.

The law, signed by President Joe Biden last year, would the app is effectively banned in the US if TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, does not sell it to a buyer deemed suitable by US officials by January 19. TikTok is suing the law, claiming it violated the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech for the company and TikTok’s 170 million users in the US.

The judges were not persuaded by that argument. In his judgment, the Supreme Court said that while TikTok “is a unique and broad outlet for expression, a means of engagement, and a source of community,” Congress determined that a sale was necessary to “address legitimate national security concerns about the TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.”

“For the foregoing reasons, we conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights,” the court said.

TikTok did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the court’s decision would allow the Justice Department to prevent the Chinese government from “using TikTok to undermine America’s national security.”

“Authoritarian regimes should have unfettered access to millions of Americans’ sensitive data,” Garland said in a Justice Department statement.

Lawyers for TikTok and the US government pleaded their cases in oral arguments before the court late last week, pitting First Amendment views against national security concerns. Based on the questions and comments of the magistrates during the more than two-hour hearing, it appeared that they were more in agreement with the government’s argument that the case is not about freedom of speech and is instead about dangers. of foreign enemies, in this case China.

Lawmakers of both political parties have long expressed concerns that TikTok could be a threat to national security and could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans or spread disinformation to further China’s agenda. .

TikTok continues to deny the accusations. Before last year’s Congressional votes, TikTok is rallying its users in the UScalling on them to urge their representatives on Capitol Hill to vote for a ban. But the measure ultimately passed by wide margins in both houses of Congress.

It remains unclear what will happen to TikTok in the next few days and in the long term.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a DOJ statement that the next phase of the department’s efforts to break TikTok’s ties to China, which will include enforcement and enforcement of the law after it takes effect Sunday, “will be a process that will play out over time.”

The White House issued a statement on Friday says Biden’s position on TikTok hasn’t changed. He still believes that TikTok should remain available to Americans, but under ownership that satisfies the government’s national security concerns.

“Given the sheer fact of timing, this administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next administration, which takes office on Monday,” the statement said.

On Thursday, a A Biden administration official said ABC News that the White House does not plan to implement the law in the remaining days before Donald Trump is sworn in as president on Monday, January 20.

Trump, who pushed for a ban in his first term, now says he no longer favors one. In late December, the lawyers for Trump filed an amicus brief in the case. They did not take sides but instead asked the court to delay the ban to give Trump time to make a “political resolution.”

Source link