A US federal appeals court on Friday unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok within months, dealing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the UNITED STATES.
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected TikTok's motion to overturn the law – which requires TikTok to sever ties with its China-based parent company, ByteDance, or face being banned by mid-January – and rejected the company's challenge to the law. which he claimed was contrary to the First Amendment.
“The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” said the court opinion, written by Justice Douglas Ginsburg. “Here, the government acted solely to protect that freedom against a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to collect data about people in the United States.”
TikTok and ByteDance — another plaintiff in the lawsuit — are expected to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, although it is unclear whether the court will take up the case.
“The Supreme Court has an established history of protecting Americans' right to free speech, and we hope it will do just that on this important constitutional question,” said TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes , in a press release.
“Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was crafted and imposed based on inaccurate, false and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people,” Hughes said.
Unless stopped, Hughes said the law “will silence the voices of more than 170 million Americans here in the United States and around the world on January 19, 2025.”
Trump could offer a lifeline
Although the case will go directly to court, it is also possible that the two companies could be thrown a lifeline of sorts by United States President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term but he declared during the last presidential campaign that he now opposed it.
The law, signed by US President Joe Biden in April, it was the culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-video sharing app, which the government considers a national security threat because of its ties to China.
“Today's decision is an important step in preventing the Chinese government from using TikTok as a weapon to collect sensitive information about millions of Americans, to covertly manipulate content disseminated to the American public, and to harm our national security,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. statement Friday.
The United States has expressed concern that TikTok collects vast amounts of user data, including sensitive information about viewing habits, which could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion.
Officials also warned that the proprietary algorithm that powers what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who they say can use it to shape content on a company's platform. way that is difficult to detect – a concern reflected by the European Union. Friday as he examines the role of the video sharing application in the Romanian elections.
TikTok, which sued the US government over the law in May, has long denied that it could be used by Beijing to spy on or manipulate Americans. Its lawyers pointedly pointed out that the United States has not provided evidence that the company passed user data to the Chinese government or manipulated content to benefit Beijing in the United States.
They also argued that the law is based on future risks, which the U.S. Justice Department emphasized in part by pointing to unspecified actions the two companies allegedly took in the past due to requests from the Chinese government.
TikTok also faces growing obstacles on this side of the border, with Canada's own government – citing national security concerns – recently forcing the company to close its Canadian operationsalthough use of the app is still permitted. In response, TikTok said it would challenge the order in court.
Before that, Ottawa banned the app on federal government devices in 2023. Similar bans took place at the provincial and territorial levels of government.
Two years ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that Canada's electronic spy agency was monitor security threats coming from the application.
The Court heard oral arguments in September
Friday's decision came after the appeals court panel, made up of two judges appointed by Republicans and one by Democrats, heard oral arguments in September.
TikTok has lost its bid to overturn a decision that could result in the platform being banned in the United States.
During the hearing, which lasted more than two hours, the panel appeared to question how foreign ownership of TikTok affects its rights under the Constitution and how far the government could go to limit the influence potential from abroad on a foreign platform. On Friday, all three rejected TikTok's petition.
In the court's ruling, Ginsburg, a Republican appointee, rejected TikTok's main legal arguments against the law, including that the law was an illegal law or an expropriation of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment.
He also said the law did not violate the First Amendment because the government was not seeking to “remove content or require a certain mix of content” on TikTok.
“The content of the platform could in principle remain unchanged after the divestment, and citizens of the United States would remain free to read and share as much PRC propaganda (or other content) as they wish on TikTok or any other platform of their choice.” Ginsburg wrote, using the abbreviation “People's Republic of China.”
Justice Sri Srinivasan, the court's chief justice, issued a concurring opinion.
Some US lawmakers are celebrating their decision
TikTok's lawsuit was consolidated by a second legal challenge brought by several content creators — for which the company is paying legal costs — as well as a third suit filed on behalf of conservative creators who work with a nonprofit organization nonprofit called BASED Politics Inc. Other organizations, including the Knight First Amendment Institute, had also filed amicus briefs supporting TikTok.
“This is a deeply flawed decision that reads too narrowly important First Amendment precedents and gives the government broad authority to restrict Americans' access to information, ideas and media in the United States. foreigner,” said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the organization. “We hope that the appeal court’s decision will not be the final word.”
Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, lawmakers who had pushed for the legislation celebrated the court's decision.
“I am optimistic that President Trump will facilitate the United States' takeover of TikTok to enable its continued use in the United States and look forward to welcoming the app to America under new ownership,” the representative said. Republican John Moolenaar of Michigan, chairman of the committee. House Select Committee on China.
Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a co-author of the law, said “it is time for ByteDance to accept” the law.
To ease concerns about the company's owners, TikTok says it has invested more than US$2 billion to strengthen data protection for American users.
The company also argued that the government's broader concerns could have been addressed in a draft agreement it provided to the Biden administration more than two years ago during talks between the two sides. He criticized the government for withdrawing from further negotiations on the deal, which the Justice Department says is insufficient.
Lawyers for both companies said it was commercially and technologically impossible to divest the platform. They also say that any sale of TikTok without the coveted algorithm – the platform's secret sauce that Chinese authorities would likely block as part of any divestiture plan – would turn the US version of TikTok into an island disconnected from other global content .
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