Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds Sweeping 'TikTok Ban'

Chris Menahan
InformationLiberation
Jan. 17, 2025

The Supreme Court on Friday unanimously upheld a sweeping law that not only bans TikTok but gives the President the power to ban any popular social media app deemed to be controlled by a "foreign adversary."

From CBS News, "Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, clears way for app to shut down in U.S. as soon as Sunday":
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a new law that would lead to a ban of the social media platform TikTok, clearing the way for the widely popular app to shutter in the U.S. as soon as Sunday.

"We conclude that the challenged provisions do not violate the petitioners' First Amendment rights," the court said in a unanimous unsigned opinion, which upholds the lower court decision against TikTok. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch wrote separately, with Gorsuch agreeing with the outcome of the case but splitting with the court's reasoning.

The court's ruling comes days before the law, which was passed with bipartisan majorities of Congress last April, is set to take effect. TikTok and a group of content creators who use the app argued the law infringes on their free speech rights, and the Supreme Court heard arguments in their bid to block it one week ago.

"There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community. But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok's data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary," the court's opinion said.

"The challenged provisions further an important government interest unrelated to the suppression of free expression and do not burden substantially more speech than necessary to further that interest," the court said, adding that the law's requirements that TikTok either divest or face a ban are designed to prevent China from gaining access to the personal data from the app's U.S. users.

Called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the law requires TikTok to either divest from ByteDance, its parent company, or be cut off from U.S. app stores and hosting services beginning Jan. 19. President-elect Donald Trump, who will be sworn in for a second term on Jan. 20, had urged the court to pause implementation of the law to allow him to pursue a "political resolution" once he takes office.

In response to the ruling, Trump wrote on Truth Social that it was "expected, and everyone must respect it. My decision on TikTok will be made in the not too distant future, but I must have time to review the situation. Stay tuned!"
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act gives the President the power to ban any app with "more than 1,000,000 monthly active users" that is "controlled by a foreign adversary" and "is determined by the President to present a significant threat to the national security of the United States."

Despite this bill having massive implications for free speech, every last Supreme Court justice fell in line and backed the ban in the name of "national security."

Despite US "national security" being cited as the justification for the ban, the actual impetus for the ban was not American national security but rather protecting the foreign state of Israel from criticism.




It was the ADL and other Jewish groups that lobbied Congress to ban TikTok because pro-Palestine content was outperforming pro-Israel content on the platform in the wake of October 7th.



Nonetheless, the actual motivation for the bill wasn't even mentioned in the Supreme Court's ruling!

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