We’ve been hearing about TikTok bans for years. But somehow, the social media app has held on for its dear life. Now, it seems it might face its ultimate defeat here in the States.
This morning, a federal appeals court panel unanimously upheld a law that might cause a nationwide ban on TikTok in January. If this happens, I might finally get eight hours of sleep at night.
According to AP News, TikTok attempted to overturn a law requiring the app to cut ties with China-based parent company, ByteDance. If TikTok had not followed through on that requirement, the law stated the app would be banned in the U.S. in January of next year.
Well, today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied TikTok’s petition to overturn it. So…TikTok’s future in the U.S. is looking pretty grim.
“The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” said the court’s opinion, via Judge Douglas Ginsburg. “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.”
According to the opinion, TikTok “never squarely denies that it has ever manipulated content at the direction of the” People’s Republic of China (PRC)
“On the merits, we reject each of the petitioners’ constitutional claims,” wrote Judge Douglas Ginsburg. “As we shall explain, the parts of the Act that are properly before this court do not contravene the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, nor do they violate the Fifth Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the laws; constitute an unlawful bill of attainder… or work an uncompensated taking of private property in violation of the Fifth Amendment.”
Instead, the judge noted that “it was carefully crafted to deal only with control by a foreign adversary, and it was part of a broader effort to counter a well-substantiated national security threat posed by the PRC.”
Michael Hughes, a spokesperson for TikTok, released a statement regarding the ruling: “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed, and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people.”
“The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025,” Hughes said.
I had better start finding some new hobbies.
The post TikTok Might Get Banned For Real This Time—No, Seriously appeared first on VICE.
The post TikTok Might Get Banned For Real This Time—No, Seriously appeared first on VICE.
