TikTok to Appeal US Sale or Ban

TikTok will begin fighting a bill on Monday that would ban the app in the U.S. if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, doesn’t sell it within nine months.

The law, signed into law by President Biden in April, was introduced in response to concerns that American user data could be exploited by the Chinese government.

TikTok and ByteDance have always denied ties to Chinese authorities and described the law as an “extraordinary interference with the right to free speech.”

The social media company, which says it has more than 170 million American users, will make its arguments before a three-judge panel of the Washington Circuit Court of Appeals.

The company will be joined by eight TikTok creators, including a Texas farmer and a Tennessee baker, who say they rely on the platform to sell their products and make a living.

Then, Department of Justice (DoJ) lawyers will present their arguments.

In addition to concerns about the data, Justice Department officials and lawmakers have expressed concern about the prospect of the Chinese government using TikTok to spread propaganda to Americans.

But defenders of America’s powerful free speech right, enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, say keeping the “get rid of it or ban it” law would be a gift to authoritarian regimes around the world.

“We should not be surprised if repressive governments around the world invoke this precedent to justify new restrictions on their own citizens’ rights to access information, ideas and media from abroad,” said Xiangnong Wang, a staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

He filed an amicus curiae brief – legal documents filed by a person who is not a party to a case but has an interest in it and offers information or expertise, usually in the hope of influencing the outcome of the case.

Mr. Wang also criticized lawmakers for being unclear about the specific national security threats they believe TikTok poses.

“We cannot recall any prior case in which such a broad restriction of First Amendment rights has been found constitutional based on evidence that has not been disclosed,” he said.

But the law was designed to withstand judicial review, according to James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“The crux of the case against TikTok is very strong,” Mr Lewis said.

“What is key is whether the court accepts that the divestiture requirement does not govern speech.”

Mr. Lewis added that courts typically base their decision on the president’s discretion on national security issues.

Regardless of what the appeals court decides, most experts agree the case could drag on for months, if not longer.

“Nothing will be resolved next week,” said Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at analyst firm Forrester.

“This is a high-stakes, highly complex case that will likely go all the way to the Supreme Court.”

More on this topic