First Amendment Protections from the First Amendment in the U.S. TikTok app launching in the light of the TSLIPS epoch
At the same time, the judges also pointed out that millions of American TikTok users, and TikTok’s U.S. operations, do have First Amendment protections and the government shutting down the app could violate those rights.
Ginsburg, who didn’t say anything until after TikTok’s argument, pushed back on Pincus’ assertion that the law singles out the company. Instead, Ginsburg said, it describes a category of companies controlled by foreign adversaries that could be subject to the law, and specifically names one where there’s an immediate need based on years of government negotiations that have failed to go anywhere.
The appeals court in DC tends to deal with cases involving federal agencies. The bill is an act of Congress and it’s not lost on the judges. Rao told TikTok’s counsel Andrew Pincus that Congress is “not the EPA” and doesn’t have to enact findings like an agency — their findings are borne out by the fact they were able to pass the law. Later, Rao said that many of Pincus’ arguments sounded like he wants the panel to treat Congress “like an agency.”
But lawmakers and national security officials in Washington have long feared that the Chinese government could manipulate TikTok’s feed to amplify videos that promote China’s view of the world. There are concerns about Chinese government espionage and the misuse of Americans’ data.
Before the deal could be finalized, however, a number of China hawks in the White House intervened with an ultimatum: Sell the app to a non-Chinese company or group of outside investors, or be banned in the U.S.
Bringing the U.S. back together: why did Congress pass the first amendment? It’s all in the interests of the creators of TikTok
Congress doesn’t legislate all the time, but here they did. They passed a law. And many of your arguments want us to treat them like they’re an agency.”
Judges acknowledged that if congress has established a legitimate national security threat, they should be allowed to pass the law. It’s not clear if that security risk is enough to justify speech restrictions.
It is possible that ByteDance will one day try to turn Americans against the U.S. in order to recruit an intelligence asset, according to Tenny.
Fisher said, yes. “We still have an interest in working with whatever foreign publisher we want,” he said, citing news organizations, like Al-Jazeera, which is based in Qatar, and Swedish-owned streaming service Spotify.
Jeffrey Fisher is a lawyer for the creators of TikTok and was asked if their First Amendment interest was in who owns the platform.
Business Insider are not owned by a foreign adversary, as stated by Srinivasan. TikTok, he said, is owned by ByteDance, a company based in China.
Source: TikTok argued against its U.S. ban in court today. Here’s what happened
Benchmarking the tying of TikTok: The resurgence of the appalling case in the U.S.
The three-judge panel was asked to issue a ruling by the Justice Department. There’s a chance it can be appealed to a full panel of the federal appeals court. Either side can ask the Supreme Court to review the decision after that.
President Biden’s administration is defending the law banning TikTok that Congress passed. During the campaign, former President Trump stated that he now supports TikTok in the US and that he had tried to shut the app down in the White House.
It was not easy to gauge the direction of the court’s decision in the most urgent legal challenge TikTok has faced.