Pictures of Puppies and Other Effluvia Are a Risk to National Security, Court Agrees
A U.S. appeals court has upheld a potential ban on TikTok, rejecting claims from the platform and users that it violates free speech.
The decision supports the government’s view that the ban protects national security by limiting data collection by TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance. A ban could take effect on Jan. 19, but TikTok plans to appeal to the Supreme Court, which may delay the decision.
TikTok, with 170 million U.S. users, argues the ban is censorship based on flawed information. The government maintains divestment from Chinese ownership is necessary.
Shares of competitors Meta and Snap rose following the ruling.
TikTok Users Outraged
TikTok users are, predictably, outraged over the court’s action. Some, like the gentleman below, are blaming Donald Trump, who has not yet taken office.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is also outraged, calling the court’s action “a major blow to freedom of expression online.” It said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit’s decision “sets a flawed and dangerous precedent.”
The law at issue — the 21st Century Peace Through Strength Act — would also grant the president broad powers to ban other platforms with foreign ownership, the ACLU notred.
The court basically bought into the government’s argument that the Chinese-owned site has the ability to conduct wide-ranging espionage by tracing the actions of its millions of American users.
“The multi-year efforts of both political branches to investigate the national security risks posed by the TikTok platform, and to consider potential remedies proposed by TikTok, weigh heavily in favor of the Act,” the court said in its ruling.
“Far too much power”
“This ruling sets a flawed and dangerous precedent, one that gives the government far too much power to silence Americans’ speech online. Banning TikTok blatantly violates the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans who use this app to express themselves and communicate with people around the world,” said Patrick Toomey, deputy director of ACLU’s National Security Project.
“The government cannot shut down an entire communications platform unless it poses extremely serious and imminent harm, and there’s no evidence of that here.”
TikTok is expected to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court before the ban goes into effect. President-elect Donald Trump has also indicated that he may refuse to enforce the ban when his administration takes office.
