What You Need to Know
TikTok has filed a lawsuit against the US government in an attempt to prevent the implementation of a bill passed in April that would require the application’s Chinese owner to sell or ban its use.
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Washington, D.C., argues that the proposed legislation, known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Censored Apps Act, violates constitutional protections for freedom of expression. In addition, the lawsuit describes the measure as an “unprecedented violation” of the Constitution.
The law requires the company owning TikTok, Beijing-based ByteDance, to sell the platform within nine months. If the sale process is ongoing, the company will have another 3 months to complete the deal.
“For the first time in history, Congress passed a law subjecting one specific speech platform to a permanent nationwide ban, preventing every American from participating in a unique online community of more than a billion people around the world,” TikTok wrote in the lawsuit.
The company says that citing national security concerns is not a sufficient reason to restrict freedom of expression, and that the burden falls on the federal government to prove that this restriction is justified.
Tensions over data privacy risks linked to the app’s Chinese ownership have been escalating for months. The situation culminated when the US Senate, on April 23, approved the bill without significant opposition. Today, the US President officially signed the bill, rendering the confrontation with the Chinese company legally binding. This legislation is part of a broader package titled the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.”
Behind the Scenes
According to US senator and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, there is support on TikTok for a national ban in the United States due to the platform’s “overwhelming” mentions of Palestine.
Speaking alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a McCain Institute think tank event, Romney stated that the app’s ban was approved by both chambers of Congress because of its apparent broad mention of endorsement of Palestine.
“Some wonder why there was such overwhelming support for us to shut down potentially TikTok or other entities of that nature. If you look at the postings on TikTok and the number of mentions of Palestinians relative to other social media sites, it’s overwhelmingly so among TikTok broadcasts,” said Romney.
Senator Romney Admits Push To Ban Tiktok Is For Censoring Palestine News.#Palestine pic.twitter.com/BNVlNUgTAc
— Muslim Network TV (@MuslimNetworkTV) May 8, 2024
Source: Al-Manar Website
