Appeals Court Upholds Ban on TikTok Unless Chinese Parent ByteDance Divests It | Global News Avenue

Federal appeals court rules Tik Tok May be banned by governments for national security reasons.

A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit upheld a law passed by congress and sign President Joe Biden in April asked ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of the popular social media site, to spin off TikTok or not allow it to operate in the United States

The move comes amid concerns that the Chinese government is using the site to spy on Americans and spread propaganda. TikTok and several of its users sued, saying the accusations were baseless and that the law violated their First Amendment rights.

Justice Douglas Ginsburg wrote for the court: “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. The government’s actions here were solely intended to protect that freedom from foreign adversary states and to limit The adversary’s ability to collect data on the American people.

The opinion noted that the potential loss of TikTok means that many Americans may lose “channels of expression, sources of community, and even means of income.” However, it added that Congress deemed it necessary “to assume this risk given what it considers to be a serious national security threat.” The court held that because the legislators’ decision was “well thought out, consistent with long-standing regulatory practice, and without an institutional goal of suppressing specific information or ideas, we cannot set it aside.”

TikTok may ask the Supreme Court to overturn the ruling

TikTok issued a statement hinting that it would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court has a strong track record of protecting Americans’ free speech rights, and we hope they do the same on this important constitutional issue,” TikTok said. “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban is based on inaccurate, Conceived and promoted with flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in the American people being thoroughly censored.

“If the TikTok ban is not stopped, the voices of more than 170 million Americans in the United States and around the world will be silenced by January 19, 2025.”