The TikTok Ban Goes to the Supreme Court
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What happened at the Supreme Court regarding TikTok?
Today, the Supreme Court took up the TikTok ban.
We will hear argument this morning in case 24656, TikTok versus Garland, and the consolidated case.
The justices will determine whether or not the law banning TikTok in the U.S. will go ahead. It's slated to go into effect January 19th.
Today was an exciting hearing at the Supreme Court. The courtroom was filled, but no, it was tense and it was interesting and it dealt with some very important issues.
That's our colleague Jess Braven, who covers the Supreme Court. Big picture, what's at stake in this hearing?
What arguments are being made for and against the TikTok ban?
Well, what's at stake here is the future of TikTok, the viral social media app that 170 million Americans use each month. The government says that TikTok presents a national security threat to the United States if it remains in the control of China, a designated foreign adversary. But TikTok says, no, those threats are overblown. And a group of American users of the app also challenged the law, saying that their free speech rights are infringed if the app they love is taken away.
Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Kate Leinbaugh. It's Friday, January 10th. Coming up on the show... Will the Supreme Court uphold the TikTok ban?
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After Congress passed a law last year that threatened TikTok, people on the platform had big reactions.
I've learned so much on TikTok. I have made so many friends on TikTok. I have made so many connections. They're not taking this away from me.
Influencers aren't out of touch for crying about the TikTok ban. You're out of touch for not realizing this is a real industry.
We will be fine without TikTok, but I don't want to have to be.
TikTok went to court to block the law. And that's how this case got to the Supreme Court today. First up was TikTok. The company's lawyer, Noel Francisco, laid out TikTok's arguments that the law was a violation of the First Amendment, of TikTok's freedom of speech.
How does the TikTok ban relate to First Amendment rights?
The act requires it to go dark unless ByteDance executes a qualified divestiture. Whether you call that a ban or a divestiture, one thing is clear. It's a burden on TikTok's speech. So the First Amendment applies.
He argued that TikTok is a U.S. company, meaning the subsidiary of ByteDance that operates in the U.S. It's not directly run by the Chinese parent company. And that it has First Amendment rights and that it should be able to use the algorithm that ByteDance has to promote this content throughout the U.S. And that it said the government didn't seriously explore less restrictive ways to achieve its national security ends. And he suggested that, say, having disclosure about risks of using the app would be one solution.
How did the justices respond to the TikTok argument?
They were skeptical. They seemed to look at the government's solution, that being divestiture, as being not particularly novel. Divesting assets is a very typical way that the government achieves certain goals. So I would say that he ran into some trouble in arguing that TikTok USA was really so different from ByteDance in Beijing. Yeah, he had a pretty tough row to hoe there.
How do users feel about the potential TikTok ban?
Here's Justice Samuel Alito in questioning, saying that because ByteDance isn't a U.S. company, the First Amendment doesn't apply.
It's true. The court has never held that a foreign government has free speech rights. And if we were to hold that, I would think it would be because speech by a foreign government, particularly one with enormous resources, is not protected, allowing that.
Another question that the court really grappled with was whose speech and what is the speech that is at issue in this case? For example, there is not a restriction on what Americans are saying or can say on this platform. And what seems to be the speech is the confidential algorithm that ByteDance uses to serve up videos to TikTok users. users. And so what is that algorithm and how is it speech?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What happened at the Supreme Court regarding TikTok?
0:05–0:45
2
What arguments are being made for and against the TikTok ban?
0:45–3:12
3
How does the TikTok ban relate to First Amendment rights?
3:12–4:36
4
What are the implications of TikTok being a foreign company?
4:36
5
How do users feel about the potential TikTok ban?
2:23–11:05
6
What did Jeffrey Fisher argue on behalf of TikTok creators?
11:05
7
How did the justices react to TikTok's arguments?
6:13–8:21
8
What are the potential outcomes of the Supreme Court's decision?
8:21–18:59