Ian Millhiser

So what this law does is it says TikTok has to be owned by someone else. It can't be owned by ByteDance, which is a Beijing company, if TikTok wants to continue to operate in the United States. And there's a First Amendment challenge to this. There's actually two separate First Amendment challenges.

So what this law does is it says TikTok has to be owned by someone else. It can't be owned by ByteDance, which is a Beijing company, if TikTok wants to continue to operate in the United States. And there's a First Amendment challenge to this. There's actually two separate First Amendment challenges.

So what this law does is it says TikTok has to be owned by someone else. It can't be owned by ByteDance, which is a Beijing company, if TikTok wants to continue to operate in the United States. And there's a First Amendment challenge to this. There's actually two separate First Amendment challenges.

One is brought by TikTok, and TikTok is saying essentially that they have a First Amendment right to continue to operate regardless of who their owner is. And then there's another challenge brought by TikTok users, influencers, you know, people who just want to be able to use TikTok and to publish on it. And they claim that they have a First Amendment right to continue using this platform.

One is brought by TikTok, and TikTok is saying essentially that they have a First Amendment right to continue to operate regardless of who their owner is. And then there's another challenge brought by TikTok users, influencers, you know, people who just want to be able to use TikTok and to publish on it. And they claim that they have a First Amendment right to continue using this platform.

One is brought by TikTok, and TikTok is saying essentially that they have a First Amendment right to continue to operate regardless of who their owner is. And then there's another challenge brought by TikTok users, influencers, you know, people who just want to be able to use TikTok and to publish on it. And they claim that they have a First Amendment right to continue using this platform.

So there's two conflicting principles here. I mean, normally the government cannot tell media companies who their owner has to be, and for obvious reasons. If the government could do that, they could just make all the newspapers sell themselves to Trump supporters, and then we wouldn't have a free press anymore. We'd just have propaganda. But...

So there's two conflicting principles here. I mean, normally the government cannot tell media companies who their owner has to be, and for obvious reasons. If the government could do that, they could just make all the newspapers sell themselves to Trump supporters, and then we wouldn't have a free press anymore. We'd just have propaganda. But...

So there's two conflicting principles here. I mean, normally the government cannot tell media companies who their owner has to be, and for obvious reasons. If the government could do that, they could just make all the newspapers sell themselves to Trump supporters, and then we wouldn't have a free press anymore. We'd just have propaganda. But...

There is a long, long, long standing rule going back at least to the Radio Act of 1912, and it prevented foreign nationals, foreign companies from getting licensed to operate a radio station in the United States. And there's still a similar prohibition in effect right now. So right now, if you are a foreign national, a foreign company,

There is a long, long, long standing rule going back at least to the Radio Act of 1912, and it prevented foreign nationals, foreign companies from getting licensed to operate a radio station in the United States. And there's still a similar prohibition in effect right now. So right now, if you are a foreign national, a foreign company,

There is a long, long, long standing rule going back at least to the Radio Act of 1912, and it prevented foreign nationals, foreign companies from getting licensed to operate a radio station in the United States. And there's still a similar prohibition in effect right now. So right now, if you are a foreign national, a foreign company,

Even a company with a certain amount of foreign ownership, you are not allowed to get a license to broadcast on the radio in the United States. So this is very, very well established when it comes to that sort of key communications infrastructure. The federal government has long had the power to say Americans only.

Even a company with a certain amount of foreign ownership, you are not allowed to get a license to broadcast on the radio in the United States. So this is very, very well established when it comes to that sort of key communications infrastructure. The federal government has long had the power to say Americans only.

Even a company with a certain amount of foreign ownership, you are not allowed to get a license to broadcast on the radio in the United States. So this is very, very well established when it comes to that sort of key communications infrastructure. The federal government has long had the power to say Americans only.

TikTok does try to argue that the rule governing foreign ownership of media should not apply to TikTok because they say that rule is just about allocating limited bandwidth. There can only be but so many TV stations. And so given that you were dealing with a limited resource, it made sense for the government to make choices about who could and could not own it.

TikTok does try to argue that the rule governing foreign ownership of media should not apply to TikTok because they say that rule is just about allocating limited bandwidth. There can only be but so many TV stations. And so given that you were dealing with a limited resource, it made sense for the government to make choices about who could and could not own it.

TikTok does try to argue that the rule governing foreign ownership of media should not apply to TikTok because they say that rule is just about allocating limited bandwidth. There can only be but so many TV stations. And so given that you were dealing with a limited resource, it made sense for the government to make choices about who could and could not own it.

So that's one of TikTok's arguments. I don't think that's a particularly persuasive argument. And the reason why is that the reason we don't let foreign nationals control radio stations is national security. You don't want a foreign government, potentially a foreign adversary, to be able to broadcast propaganda.

So that's one of TikTok's arguments. I don't think that's a particularly persuasive argument. And the reason why is that the reason we don't let foreign nationals control radio stations is national security. You don't want a foreign government, potentially a foreign adversary, to be able to broadcast propaganda.