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What you need to know
- The U.S. federal court of appeals ruled that TikTok should be prohibited in the U.S. due to national security concerns.
- The law passed earlier this year and signed by President Biden ordered TikTok parent ByteDance to shed the social media site, or it wouldn't be able to operate in the U.S.
- The court ruled the law didn't violate the First Amendment rights of TikTok or its users.
Federal appeals court ruled TikTok could be banned for reasons of national security by the federal government.
The District of Columbia Circuit, a three-judge panel, upheld the law signed by Joe Biden, President of the United States, in April, which required ByteDance to sell its TikTok shares or else it wouldn’t be permitted to operate within the U.S.
This move was prompted by concerns that Chinese officials were using the website to monitor Americans and spread their propaganda. TikTok filed suit along with several other users of the app, alleging that those allegations were unjustified and that they violated First Amendment rights.
Writing for the court, Judge Douglas Ginsburg said, "The First Amendment exists to protect free speech 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 gather data on people in the United States."
The opinion noted that the potential loss of TikTok means many Americans may lose access to "to an outlet for expression, a source of community, and even a means of income." However, it added that Congress judged it necessary "to assume that risk given the grave national-security threats it perceived." The court found that since the lawmakers' decision was "considered, consistent with longstanding regulatory practice, and devoid of an institutional aim to suppress particular messages or ideas, we are not in a position to set it aside."
TikTok to ask Supreme Court to Overturn Decision
TikTok has released a release implying that they will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans' right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue," TikTok said. "Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people.
"The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the U.S. and around the world on January 19th, 2025."
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