Fighting for its survival in the United States, TikTok has appealed to the Supreme Court to block a law requiring its Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the app by January 19 or face a ban. .
TikTok and ByteDance filed an emergency request with judges for an injunction to block the ban on the social media app used by about 170 million Americans while they appeal a lower court ruling that upheld the law. . A group of US users of the app filed a similar petition on Monday.
Congress passed the law in April. The Justice Department has said that as a Chinese company, TikTok is “highly critical to national security” because of its vast amount of data on U.S. users, its access to private messages from locations, and its ability to covertly manipulate data. risk of greater depth and scale”. The content that Americans watch on the app.
The US Court for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington on December 6 rejected TikTok’s arguments that the law violates free speech protections under the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
In their filing with the Supreme Court, TikTok and ByteDance said that “if Americans are aware of the alleged dangers of manipulating ‘confidential’ content, then With people who choose to continue watching content on TikTok, the First Amendment gives them that choice, independent of government censorship.”
“And if the D.C. Circuit held to the contrary, Congress would have a free rein to prohibit any American from speaking, indicating a danger that the speech is influenced by a foreign entity. “, he added.
The companies said a month-long shutdown would cost TikTok about a third of its U.S. users and hurt its ability to attract advertisers and recruit talent for content creators and employees. will
Billing itself as one of the “most important speech platforms” used in the United States, TikTok has said there is no threat to US national security and that the delay in implementing the law will lead the Supreme Court to the legality of the ban. Will allow consideration. And the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump will also review the law.
Trump, who unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok during his first term in 2020, has reversed his stance and promised during the presidential race this year that he would try to save TikTok. Trump will take office on January 20, the day after TikTok’s statutory deadline.
The law would “shut down one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration,” the companies said in their filing. “A federal law singling out and banning a speech platform used by half of Americans is extraordinary.”
Asked at a press conference on Monday what he would do to stop the ban on TikTok, Trump said he had a soft spot for TikTok and would “take a look” at the matter.
The companies asked the Supreme Court to issue a ruling on their request by January 6, if it is rejected, for the “complicated task of shutting down TikTok” in the United States and service providers by the deadline. Allow to connect with. prescribed by law.
The dispute comes amid rising trade tensions between the world’s two largest economies, China and the United States.
‘Strict Scrutiny’
TikTok has denied it has or will ever share US user data, accusing US lawmakers of fueling speculative concerns.
“We’re asking the court to do what it has traditionally done in free-speech cases: apply the strictest scrutiny to a speech restriction and conclude that it’s fair,” TikTok spokesman Michael Hughes said after the filing. That it violates the First Amendment.”
In its ruling, the D.C. Circuit wrote, “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. Here, the government acted solely to protect that freedom from a hostile foreign nation and its people.” acted to limit the United States’ ability to collect data.”
Without an injunction, a ban on TikTok would make the company far less valuable to ByteDance and its investors, and would hurt businesses that rely on TikTok to drive their sales.
The law would bar TikTok and other apps controlled by foreign rivals from providing certain services, including those offered by app stores such as Apple AAPL.O and Alphabet’s GOOGL.O Google, effectively barring its U.S. use. Blocks until ByteDance shuts down TikTok by deadline
The ban could open the door to future US crackdowns on other foreign-owned apps. In 2020, Trump tried to ban WeChat, owned by Chinese company Tencent, but was blocked by the courts.