TikTok suffered a new setback on Monday in a US federal court in its efforts to stop a law that forces its Chinese owners to sell the app or face a ban in the US.
Three judges of the District of Columbia Court of Appealsheard from TikTok, ByteDance and a group of users who claim that the ban violates the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution United States.
Since April the United States Congress passed the law, the fate of TikTok In the North American country it became an important topic of political debate. The Republican candidate for president, Donald TrumpHE opposes to any veto of the very popular platform, after he himself tried to ban it in 2020, at the end of his term.
The President Joe Bidenfor its part, signed a law that gives a deadline until January the social network to stop being owned by a Chinese company, otherwise it would be forbidden. Its vice president, Kamala Harris, is the current Democratic candidate for the White House.
ByteDanceTikTok’s parent company, said it has no intention of to break away from their precious application. Legal action is therefore their only option to survive in the United States. In their questions, the judges questioned this argument by comparing it to previous cases of the jurisprudence United States.
Among them, one from the 1980s in which it was considered legal Closure of the Palestinian Information Office in Washington because it was backed by the PLO, an organization officially designated as a terrorist group. “Mere foreign ownership cannot be a justification because it would turn the First Amendment“, TikTok’s lawyer replied.
A prohibition would probably cause a strong reaction from Beijing and would further strain US-China relations. judges The court will rule on the case in the coming weeks or months, but whatever its decision, it is likely to be heard before the US Supreme Court.
The clash of positions
TikTok states that “the Constitution is on your side” and adds that the law would silence the voices of 170 million of Americans. “There is no doubt that the law TikTok will close on January 19, 2025“the company’s lawsuit states, “silencing those who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere.”
The US government counters that the law deals with issues of national securitynot freedom of expression, and that ByteDance cannot rely on rights protected by the Constitution. The United States believes that ByteDance can accede to the requests of the Chinese government to obtain data About users Americans and that gives in to pressure to censor or promote certain content on the platform.
When the conflict began
The decrees of 2020 that TikTok was bannedof the former president Trumpwere blocked by a federal judge, who alleged a possible violation of the right to freedom of expression. Since then, the Republican tycoon, very upset with Meta and the other major platforms that temporarily banned his accounts for inciting violence After the assault on the Capitol in 2021, he changed his mind.
Harris He also has a presence on TikTok and has embraced social media as a means of communicating with young voters. The new law signed by Biden was designed to overcome legal obstacles, but some experts believe that the Supreme Court of Justice will find it difficult to consider that national security concerns outweigh the protection of free speech.
Source: Ambito
