Washington Washington. The US Supreme Court on Friday refused to protect TikTok from a law that would require the popular short-video app to be sold by its Chinese parent company ByteDance or be banned in the United States on national security grounds on Sunday. – This is a major blow to a platform that is used by nearly half of Americans.
The judges ruled unanimously that the law, passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress last year and signed by Democratic President Joe Biden, does not violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution's protection against government interference with free speech. The judges affirmed a lower court ruling that had upheld the measure after TikTok, ByteDance and some of the app's users challenged it.
The court said in the unsigned opinion, “There is no doubt that for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok provides a distinctive and wide-ranging outlet for expression, a means of engagement, and a source of community. But Congress determined “That divestiture is necessary to address TikTok's well-supported national security concerns about its data collection practices and ties to foreign adversaries.” The Court stated that “We conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate petitioners' First Amendment rights.” The case pitted free speech rights against national security concerns in the age of social media. The court said it was giving “due regard” to the US government's national security concerns about China. The judges said the evidence in the case demonstrated that China “has made extensive and years-long efforts to accumulate structured datasets, particularly on US persons, to support its intelligence and counter-intelligence operations.” White House press secretary Carine Jean-Pierre reiterated Biden's position on Friday that “TikTok should remain available to Americans, but only under U.S. ownership or other ownership that meets the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this legislation.” Addresses.” Jean-Pierre said that given the timing, action to enforce the law “should fall to the next administration.”
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