Washington – TikTok lawyers urged the Supreme Court on Friday to declare unconstitutional a new law that could ban the widely popular app in the United States, arguing that shutting down TikTok would not only stifle speech. There will be silence, but other people on the stage will also become silent. 170 million US users.
in one initial overview The petition filed before the judges provides the first look at the arguments TikTok will make to the High Court next month, with lawyers for the platform urging them to overturn the three-judge appeals court panel's decision. ban maintained,
TikTok's lawyers said in their filing that they do not “oppose Congress's compelling interest in protecting the security of this country, or the many weapons it has at its disposal to do so. But that arsenal does not include suppressing the speech of Americans.” Because other Americans can be persuaded.”
in oneself filed In arguing to uphold the ban, the Justice Department argued that the law is consistent with the First Amendment and said the government has a compelling interest in preventing national security threats posed by the control of TikTok by a foreign rival, China.
The legislation addresses the serious threats to national security posed by the Chinese government's control over TikTok, a platform that collects sensitive data about millions of Americans and is a powerful tool for covert influence operations, Solicitor General Elizabeth Preloger wrote. There will be equipment. Anti-foreigner. And the Act mitigates those threats not by imposing any restrictions on speech, but by preventing any foreign adversary from controlling the platform.”
The High Court said last week that this Will accept the challenge of TikTok The ban, which was passed by Congress in April as part of a foreign aid package. the company had asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block the law and urged intervention before January 19, when the prohibition is scheduled to take effect.
The justices said they would consider whether the measure violates the First Amendment, and scheduled a two-hour argument for Jan. 10, a quick timeline that could bring a decision sooner. In addition to TikTok's challenge, the Supreme Court will consider a separate bid by a group of the platform's users to block the ban.
The matter will be debated in the final days of the Biden administration, but President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20, expressed support For TikTok. Trump tried to ban the app during his first term in office, but changed his position during his campaign. The president-elect vowed to “save” the app, and told reporters earlier this month that he has “a warm place in my heart for TikTok.”
Lawmakers called for restricting TikTok's access in the US amid concerns over its ties to China. The platform is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, and members of both parties, as well as intelligence agencies, have warned that the app could give the Chinese government access to data on about 170 million Americans who use TikTok. They have also raised concerns that the Chinese government could use TikTok to covertly manipulate content on the platform and influence public discourse.
Under the law, TikTok had nine months to separate from ByteDance or lose access to all app stores and web-hosting services in the US. The measure allows the President to grant a one-time, 90-day delay if the sale continues. 19 January.
TikTok's lawyers have argued this disinvestment is not possibleAnd the Chinese government has vowed to block the sale of the platforms' powerful algorithms, which generate content recommendations for users.
Introduced in May, TikTok argued in its challenge According to the law this violates the First Amendment rights of the platform and its users. The company also said Congress targeted it with its ban, which would prevent every American from participating in its “unique online community.”
But a panel of three judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit disagreed, finding that the government's national security justification for the law is consistent with the First Amendment.
Senior Justice Douglas Ginsburg, appointed by President Ronald Reagan, wrote for the unanimous court, “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States.” “Here the government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign enemy nation and to limit that adversary's ability to collect data on people in the United States.”
Ginsburg, joined by Justice Neomi Rao, appointed by Trump, and Chief Justice Mr. Srinivasan, appointed by President Barack Obama, said that while the decision will have significant implications for TikTok and its users, “that burden bears responsibility.” [China’s] “The hybrid commercial threat is to U.S. national security, not to the U.S. government.”
The controversy has attracted criticism from members of Congress, civil liberties groups, former national security officials and many friends of TikTok users.