Washington – The Supreme Court is set to hear arguments Friday morning on whether the law should be overturned or delayed. TikTok may be banned In America in the coming days.
The legislation is set to quickly pass Congress with bipartisan support and take effect on January 19, nine months after being signed into law by President Biden. It would require the widely popular app to sever ties with its China-based parent company, ByteDance, or lose access to app stores and web-hosting services in the US. The law also gives the President the ability to delay it for 90 days. Implementation if a sale is in progress.
The case challenges First Amendment free speech rights, which the federal government and lawmakers say is a national security threat posed by TikTok. The Supreme Court showed extraordinary speed in considering the case and agreed to take up the dispute just two days after the forum's lawyers sought intervention on emergency grounds.
The question before the court is whether the law targeting TikTok violates the First Amendment. Here's what you need to know about this case:
Law at the heart of the matter
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The legal battle arose from a law passed by Congress as part of the foreign aid package in April. Called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Enemy Controlled Applications Act, the measure makes it illegal for third-party service providers like Google or Apple to “distribute, maintain, or update” an app controlled by a foreign enemy by providing certain services, such as That to provide it. In the App Store.
Under the law, any app operated by ByteDance, TikTok or its subsidiaries is considered a “foreign enemy controlled application.” The designation also includes apps operated by a “covered company” controlled by a foreign competitor – China, Russia, North Korea or Iran.
The ban is scheduled to take effect on January 19, 270 days after the law came into force. Under the law, TikTok could remain available, however, if it separates from ByteDance. The measure also allows the President to grant a single, 90-day extension if a sale is underway.
What are the arguments?
In its brief to the Supreme Court, the US government said TikTok collects vast amounts of information from its users, which the Chinese government can use for “espionage or blackmail” purposes or to “advance its geopolitical interests”. Can do for. Sowing discord and propaganda during a crisis.”
“In response to those serious national-security threats, Congress imposed no restrictions on speech, much less based on viewpoint or content. Instead, Congress merely prohibited foreign enemy control: TikTok operates in the United States may continue to operate and offer content in the same manner to the same users, if its current owner executes a divestiture that frees up the platform [People’s Republic of China’s] Control,” the Justice Department said.
TikTok's lawyers have argued that shutting down the app in the US would not only shut down its voice, but also the voice of the 170 million Americans who regularly use it. In their filing, the platform's lawyers called the potential shutdown “unprecedented” and said the government's justification “is at war with the First Amendment.”
Additionally, TikTok has argued that a divestment from ByteDance and the parent company is not possible. said in april That it will not sell the platform.
A group of eight TikTok users also challenged the law on First Amendment grounds, arguing that outlawing the platform would deprive them of access to a “vital communications platform” through which they can earn a livelihood and share their views. Can spread.
legislation, the creators' lawyers wrote in a filed with the court, “violates the First Amendment because it suppresses the speech of American creators based primarily on an asserted government interest – curtailing the ideas Americans can hear – that is material to our nation's history and tradition.” is anathema and inconsistent with this court's precedents.”
But an appeals court disagreed with TikTok and users' First Amendment claims. In a December ruling, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit expressed sympathy with the government's argument that TikTok poses a national security threat. The appeals court later rejected TikTok's bid for a temporary stay on the ban while it sought a review from the Supreme Court.
Thomas Berry, an expert in constitutional law at the Cato Institute, said it would be “unprecedented” for the Supreme Court to uphold a law that restricts such a popular and widely used platform in the US, but he That if he is in favor of it then it would be appropriate. Government is important.
He said, “If the Court relied on the notion of disinformation or manipulation of content as justification, it would be extremely damaging to the First Amendment principle because it would essentially allow the government to target a speech platform for that content.” Will give the green signal,” he said. Berry filed a friend-of-the-court brief in support of TikTok and users.
But if the court upholds the law based on data collection concerns, he said, “it would still be an unfortunate deference shown to government arguments that are not supported by the public record, but it would potentially be more That type of decision would be beneficial -only- in this case.”
Additionally, Berry said that the impact of the ban on users is an important perspective for the court to consider.
“It humanizes the speech taking place on this platform and emphasizes, especially to judges who may not be familiar with it, that this is not just speech being broadcast from overseas,” he said. “It's primarily Americans talking to other Americans, and a lot of completely apolitical speech is happening and being found through the TikTok discovery algorithm.”
Jennifer Safstrom, who directs the Stanton Foundation First Amendment Clinic at Vanderbilt Law School, said TikTok may have a more difficult fight in making its case because “one of the strengths of the government's position is that the executive and legislative branches are very Something is given.” respect for national security.”
“That's why courts are often hesitant to second-guess the political branches on these types of national security questions,” Safstrom told CBS News.
Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU's National Security Project, said the government has not supported its claims against TikTok with solid public evidence. The ACLU has urged the Supreme Court to block the ban in a friend-of-the-court brief.
“The government cannot impose this type of blanket ban unless it is the only way to prevent extremely serious and imminent harm to national security,” Toomey told CBS News. “That doesn't just mean hinting at the possibility that TikTok's exploitation could lead to these kinds of harms, but providing evidence that either these harms are ongoing and widespread or imminent, and we've provided that kind of evidence.” Haven't seen it.”
Trump opposed TikTok ban
The Supreme Court is hearing this case in the last days of the Biden administration. President-elect Donald Trump, who has expressed support for TikTok in recent months, will take office a day after the law takes effect.
A Trump lawyer filed a friend-of-the-court brief I am asking the Supreme Court to block implementation of the law, saying the incoming president opposes banning TikTok at this time and wants the ability to resolve the dispute through “political means.”
“President Trump takes no position on the merits of the dispute. Instead, he urges the Court to stay the statute's effective date to allow his incoming administration to seek a negotiated settlement that would allow the country “To prevent TikTok from being shut down throughout the United States, thereby preserving the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans, while also addressing the government's national security concerns,” Trump's attorney, D. John Sawyer, said. Wrote.
The President-elect intends to nominate Sawyer for Solicitor General in his second term. If confirmed by the Senate, Sawyer will argue on behalf of the federal government before the Supreme Court.
Trump recently met with TikTok's chief executive at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and praised the platform for helping win over young voters in the November election.
The president-elect's support for the widely popular app is a highlight from his first term in office. He took unilateral action in August 2021 TikTok effectively banned The US comes after it was revealed that its data collection raised the risk that China would use Americans' data for malicious purposes. However, the ban never took effect after being struck down by a federal court and executive order. Canceled by Mr Biden,
Although Trump has been pushing for a delay, members of his incoming administration have strongly supported banning TikTok, including his nominee for Secretary of State, Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, and his national security adviser, Joe Biden. Republican representative Mike Waltz of. ,
Leaders of the House China Committee and Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also submitted friend-of-the-court briefs to the Supreme Court, both arguing that the law should be upheld.
Lawmakers and intelligence agencies have long been suspicious of the app's ties to China and have argued that concerns are justified because Chinese national security laws require organizations to cooperate in intelligence gathering. FBI Director Christopher Wray told lawmakers last year that the Chinese government could compromise Americans' devices through software.
In response to national security concerns, Congress banned TikTok on federal government devices in 2022, and most states have banned the app on state government devices.
TikTok has argued that a number of issues would arise if the platform was forced to sever all ties with ByteDance. Because the Chinese government opposes selling the algorithms that generate video recommendations for each user, a new buyer would have to build it from scratch. The platform would also become a “content island” in the US – if it could not share data with ByteDance, “US users would be unable to access global content, and US creators would be unable to reach global audiences,” its lawyers said. Said.
How can TikTok avoid ban?
Still, TikTok has several avenues to avoid the ban other than Supreme Court intervention, Experts told CBS News,
Trump could take action once he takes office and ask the Justice Department not to enforce the law or prosecute tech companies like Apple and Google that host TikTok in their app stores. Trump also has the authority to issue a 90-day delay on the legislation after January 19, although he would have to certify to Congress that there has been “evidence of significant progress” toward divestment.
If the law goes into effect, TikTok won't disappear from Americans' phones on January 19. However, users will not be able to update the app and those who do not already have it will not be able to download it.