For the 170 million Americans who use TikTok, Friday’s top influencer was the U.S. Supreme Court, with all nine justices seeming inclined to uphold a controversial ban on the popular social media platform over national security issues posed by its Chinese owner, ByteDance.
At a hearing Friday, Justice Brett Kavanaugh discussed the government’s concerns that “China was accessing information about tens of millions of Americans — including teens and people in their twenties — that they’d use that [information] over time to develop spin to turn people, to blackmail people, who a generation from now would be working in the FBI, the CIA, or the State Department. Is that not a realistic assessment by Congress and the president of the risks here?”
Noel Francisco, attorney for TikTok, responded, “Your honor, I’m not disputing the risks, I’m disputing the means they’ve chosen,” adding, “It’s got to at least consider the consequences of shutting down a speech platform used by 170 million Americans.”
TikTok argued it could place disclaimers on the platform, alerting users about potential foreign influences — and that the government could enforce severe penalties if TikTok shared users’ information.
Attorney Jeffrey Fisher argued that a ban would violate users’ and creators’ freedom of expression. “The government is saying ‘national security.’ So a mix of cat videos and dance videos doesn’t affect national security,” Fisher told the justices. “The government in its briefings outright tells you that ‘What we’re really worried about is sowing doubt in U.S. leaders.'”
“Congress doesn’t care about what’s on TikTok,” Chief Justice John Roberts replied. “They don’t care about the expression. They’re not saying TikTok has to stop. They’re saying the Chinese have to stop controlling TikTok.”
Justices noted foreign companies do not have First Amendment rights.
TikTok has until Jan. 19 to be divested from ByteDance, according to the law under consideration by the court.
After listening to more than two hours’ of court arguments, Knight First Amendment Institute attorney George Wang said he’s “pessimistic” about TikTok’s chances of prevailing.
“That has huge implications for … everyone who uses TikTok, not just creators, but anyone who … receives content on it. And I think the idea that, you know, this really doesn’t threaten the First Amendment rights of the millions of Americans that use TikTok is really concerning,” Wang said.
For New Jersey entrepreneurs like Skip Chapman, who launched a market for his coffee-scented deodorant products on TikTok, switching social platforms would be highly problematic, he said.
“For people that are actually trying to make a living for their families, for the seven million U.S.-based businesses that are doing this, we’re much more than cat videos and dance videos. I’m very frustrated that we keep talking about a threat, but we don’t know what that threat is,” Chapman said.
The court also discussed a possible administrative stay, to delay the ban until the next administration can deal with it. President-elect Trump opposes a ban on TikTok.
