TikTok ban upheld in court

Topline

A federal appeals court on Friday upheld TikTok’s federal ban, set to take effect in January, although the case is likely to go to the Supreme Court and President-elect Donald Trump could try to undermine a ban.

Important facts

Crucial quote

“We recognize that this decision has a significant impact on TikTok and its users,” the jury wrote in its verdict, but noted that the burden of TikTok’s unavailability “is due to (China’s) hybrid commercial threat to the national security of the country.” USA.” , not to the US government.” “The First Amendment is intended to protect freedom of expression in the United States. Here the government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to collect data about people in the United States.”

What you should pay attention to

It is likely that the case will be appealed to the Supreme Court before January 19. However, it is unclear how long it will take for the appeal to be completed. TikTok could also ask the Supreme Court to block the law while the case is pending — so it wouldn’t go into effect if the Supreme Court doesn’t uphold the policy — and it’s unclear how judges might rule on that.

Can Trump stop the Tiktok ban?

If the appeals process continues beyond Jan. 20, President-elect Donald Trump — who reportedly wants to stop the TikTok ban — could push his administration to simply not argue for or argue against it before the Supreme Court. However, that wouldn’t make TikTok legal unless the Supreme Court sided with it. However, the new president has some options for defying the ban if it goes into effect. Former DOJ official Alan Rozenshtein wrote in an editorial for Lawfare that Trump could persuade Congress to repeal the ban — unlikely given the bill’s bipartisan support — or direct his Justice Department not to enforce the ban, even though Apple and Google might still want to remove the app from their stores anyway in case Trump ever changes his mind. The most likely path Trump could take, Rozenshtein predicted, would be for Trump to simply declare that TikTok is complying with the law and has appropriately separated itself from ByteDance — whether that is actually the case or not. However, this would likely lead to lawsuits from rival companies, Rozenshtein noted, which could still lead to the app being banned.

Surprising fact

Although TikTok has long denied any wrongdoing, Forbes has reported numerous concerns related to the company, including TikTok spying on journalists, tracking “sensitive” words, promoting Chinese propaganda critical of U.S. politicians, and misuse of User data. TikTok has denied the allegations made against the company or blamed the actions on individual malicious actors within the company, although the court noted in its ruling on Friday that the company did not deny “that it has a significant amount of data about its users.” collects” or “that it has collected such data”. “have ever manipulated content on the TikTok platform at the direction of the (Chinese government).” The court pointed to Forbes’ reporting in its ruling, noting that the public reports on TikTok provided “compelling evidence” to justify the government’s ban and helped convince the court to uphold the ruling that lawmakers made when they ruled that TikTok was a threat to national security.”

Big number

More than 170 million. According to the company, the number of people using TikTok in the United States is equal to about half of the country’s total population.

Important background

President Joe Biden signed the TikTok ban in April as lawmakers increasingly opposed the social media app, banning it from government devices and warning about its ties to China, before taking the extreme step of attempting to shut down the app entirely forbid. TikTok has long denied having any ties to the Chinese government, and the federal government has not released any of the specific information it uses to justify its hostility toward the company. The court ruling on the fate of the ban came after several other courts have ruled against bans on TikTok in the past, with Montana’s statewide ban on the app being blocked in court and judges ruling against Trump’s attempt to ban TikTok during his first term. During his time in office, the ex-president tried to ban the app before changing his mind and praising TikTok ahead of the 2024 election as his supporters backed him for the app and billionaire GOP megadonor Jeff Yass, a ByteDance investor, joined campaigned against the ban. Trump’s about-face on TikTok is in line with broader public opinion, as polls show a ban on TikTok has become increasingly unpopular among Americans. According to the Pew Research Center, only 32% supported banning the app in July and August, compared to 50% who supported a ban in March 2023.

tangent

The legal debate over the federal TikTok ban comes as Canada has also recently taken action against the company, halting TikTok’s Canadian operations and closing its office in the country in November. However, the government has not banned the app entirely, so Canadians can still access and use TikTok, unlike the US ban. A number of other major countries such as Australia, New Zealand and many European countries have banned the use of TikTok on government devices, but aside from the US, only Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Somalia and Taiwan have restricted access to the app

Further reading

ForbesWill the court uphold the TikTok ban? What you should know about today’s decisionFrom Alison Durkee
ForbesTrump may try to stop the TikTok ban from taking effect, a report saysFrom Molly Bohannon
ForbesTrump and TikTok: How his victory could affect a possible banFrom Molly Bohannon