TikTok Banning Is More Likely Than Ever

Soon Biden signed a bill to ban TikTok in Aprilthe company and a group of its users retaliated by filing lawsuits accusing the federal government of violating their First Amendment rights. In December, federal appeals court followed the ban, leaving TikTok with only one way to save itself: an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Many of the same arguments were made at Friday’s hearing. Justice Brett Kavanaugh called the government’s reasons for data protection “strong.” Justices Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch questioned the government’s claims that the app could engage in Chinese “privacy,” saying that TikTok’s algorithm was not as transparent as that of other social media companies.

“We all now know that China is behind,” Kagan said.

Fisher, who is representing the co-creators in the case, said the jury did not have to answer security questions, which could be better dealt with by privacy laws.

“If Congress, in this law, has regulated data protection in other ways with data processors, that is acceptable,” Fisher told the court. “But the question you faced today was less. The question is, is this law in your eyes sustainable for security reasons? And the answer has to be no,” Fisher told the court.

Judges questioned whether the law limited TikTok’s freedom of expression, given the opportunity to withdraw. “TikTok can continue to use its algorithm on its own, as long as it does not cooperate with ByteDance,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said.

If the ban goes into effect, Apple and Google may have to remove TikTok from the US versions of their app stores, banning any new downloads in this country. Internet service providers and data custodians will also be prohibited from providing their services to the company. Users who have TikTok already downloaded on their devices can continue to have access, for a limited time after the ban begins. Once removed from app stores, users cannot download updates to TikTok, and the app can be Many carts are difficult to use over time. TikTok’s lawyer told the jury that the app will be dark after January 19.

Blake Reid, a law professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder, said the judges appeared to be targeting the TikTok industry, leaving the program’s counsel little time to challenge data protection challenges. “I don’t know that Tiktok will lose the argument, but because they have been around for a long time, they haven’t been able to argue about national security and privacy and security, which I think is very weak on the part of the government.”

The judges appeared to be more sympathetic to state security, says Alan Rozenshtein, a law professor and former security adviser to the Justice Department. “It makes sense that Tiktok will take a few votes,” says Rozenshtein. “I think the three are Justices Sotomayor, Gorsuch, and maybe Kagan, but I have a hard time seeing TikTok getting five votes, which is what it would take to break the law.”

At a press conference following the trial on Friday, Francisco said the argument “went well” and that the jury had “strong doubts on both sides.”

It is unclear when the court will issue its decision, but Rozenshtein and Reid believe it will come soon. TikTok’s lawyer, Mr. Francisco, said the judges could issue an injunction or an injunction to prevent the ban from working as planned, but did not give an indication as to whether he would consider it.

Trump also pleaded with the nation’s highest court to stop the ban from taking effect in an amicus brief filed last month, promising to find a “political” solution to save TikTok once he regains power. “Only President Trump has the ability to overreach, the electoral responsibility, and the political will to negotiate to save the platform while talking about national security,” Trump’s attorney D. John Sauer wrote. reservation. The court has yet to respond to the brief.

If the judges uphold the ban, a deal with Trump could be TikTok’s last shot at survival.