On Friday, December 6, three federal appeals court judges upheld that a $95 billion national security package signed into law in April by President Biden – which includes a provision that could ban TikTok in the United States – is constitutional and can remain on the books. The law requires TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the app to an American country by January 19, 2025. If the owner refuses, the app will be banned in the United States.
“We recognize that this decision has significant implications for TikTok and its users,” the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit wrote in the majority opinion. “Consequently, TikTok’s millions of users will need to find alternative communication media.”
TikTok responded by appealing the case to the 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,” a statement released by the company read.
While on the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump promised to “save TikTok” from the potential ban if elected, though his cabinet appointees have expressed mixed feelings. Trump’s proposed secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has voiced concerns over TikTok since 2019, when he called for a review of national security implications regarding the app. Trump also expressed outrage toward the app in 2020 when users claimed to have manipulated the turnout of one of his rallies. He attempted to sign an executive order to ban TikTok. However, that was struck down in the courts. However, more recently, Trump has said that a TikTok ban would benefit Meta, which he refers to as the “enemy of the people.”
The majority opinion issued by the court argued that because a foreign company owns TikTok, it does not have the same access to First Amendment rights. “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” they said. “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.”
