The Supreme Court approved the ban on Tik Tok
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a federal law banning Chinese-owned social media tech Talk, two days before the Bilateral Discrimination Act could take effect.
“There is no doubt that TikTok provides a unique and broad source of communication, communication, and community to more than 170 million Americans,” the court said in an unsigned decision. But Congress has determined that declassification is necessary to address well-founded national security concerns about TikTok’s data collection practices and ties to foreign adversaries.
“For the foregoing reasons, we find that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights. The judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is affirmed.”
There were no known differences.
At issue was the bipartisan support passed by Congress last April for the Protecting Americans from Adverse Controlled Applications Act. The law TikTok gave nine months To release ByteDance from its Chinese parent company or be removed from US-based app stores and hosting services.
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The United States Supreme Court building in Washington DC (Drew Anger/AFP via Getty)
In approving the law, Congress cited concerns over China’s ownership of the app, which could mean the app could be weaponized or used to collect large amounts of user data, from the nearly 170 million Americans who use TikTok.
TikTok, ByteDance and many of the app’s users quickly sued to block the ban in May, saying the law would destroy free speech for the millions of Americans who use the platform. After a lower court upheld the ban, the Supreme Court agreed to hear TikTok’s emergency request to block or pause the law’s implementation on a fast-track timeline nine days before the ban takes effect.
Read Supreme Court ruling on TikTok Act – App users, click here:
During oral arguments, lawyers for the Biden administration reiterated their argument that TikTok’s Chinese ownership poses a “serious” national security threat to US users.
US Attorney General Elizabeth Preloger cited concerns that China could weaponize the app, including by using algorithms to prioritize certain content or by ordering parent company ByteDance to hand over large amounts of user data compiled by TikTok on US users.
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TikTok’s lawyers, for their part, have tried to frame the case primarily as a First Amendment restriction on free speech, which concerns the company’s merger with TikTok America.
Tik Tok’s lawyer, Noel Francisco, argued that the U.S. government has “no merit in preventing foreign propaganda,” and reiterated Tik Tok’s position that the platform and its owners should receive the maximum free speech protections under the U.S. Constitution.
Francisco also argued that TikTok cannot be released from its Chinese parent company, citing its source code and intellectual property located in China.
First Amendment Protections It must be viewed under strict scrutiny, which requires the government to maintain a high burden of proof to establish the constitutionality of the law.
The Tik Tok app appears on the phone screen along with other social media platforms. (Yui Mok/PA Images via Getty Images)
More specifically, statutes affording First Amendment protections must be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest.
It is a difficult legal challenge to satisfy in court. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit used it last month to consider the District of Columbia Service’s layoff law and still voted to uphold it — a decision the Supreme Court could and still has chosen to uphold. The law.
During oral arguments at the Supreme Court, several justices appeared skeptical of the company’s main argument, which is that the law restricts speech.
“What exactly is Tik Tok talking about here?” Judge Clarence Thomas During the first oral arguments, the court questioned whether the law violated the First Amendment on the first sign of doubt.
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President-elect Trump appears in front of the Tik Tok logo. (Getty Images)
The Supreme Court and its 6-3 conservative majority have historically argued for Congress on national security issues.
The diversity bill in question passed Congress last year under the leadership of top Justice Department officials, who work directly with House lawmakers to help write the bill and fend off potential legal challenges.
But it also comes when President-elect Trump did it Marked clear support For the application in recent months.
In December, Trump hosted TikTok CEO Xu Zicheu at the Mar-a-Lago resort, and later told reporters that his incoming administration would “look into” TikTok and the divestment issue.
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Lawyers for the president-elect also filed a brief with the Supreme Court last month, asking the justices to delay any decision on the case until after Trump takes office on January 20.
The brief did not specify how Trump might act, but noted that the court had asked for the ban to remain in effect until after Trump’s inauguration.
Fox News’ Bill Mears and Shannon Brehm contributed to this report.
