TikTok ban is higher than ever

Shortly after Biden He signed the bill banning TikTok in Aprilthe company and a consortium of its users responded by filing a lawsuit accusing the federal government of violating their First Amendment rights. In December federal appeals court upholding the ban, TikTok has only one legal 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 data security rationale “strong.” Justices Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch questioned the government’s claim that the app could host “covert” Chinese manipulation operations and argued that TikTok’s algorithm is as opaque as those of other social media companies.

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

Fisher, who represents the creators involved in the case, argued that justices should not have to answer questions about security, which are better addressed by broader data privacy legislation.

“If Congress were to regulate data security in other ways with data brokers in this statute, that would be perfectly permissible,” Fisher told the court. “But the question before you today was narrower. The question is, is this law before you sustainable from a security point of view? And that answer should be no,” Fisher told the court.

Justices expressed some doubts about whether the law would limit TikTok’s freedom of expression. “TikTok can continue to operate with its own algorithm as long as it is not affiliated with ByteDance,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said.

If the ban goes into effect, Apple and Google will be required to remove TikTok from the US versions of their app stores. preventing any new downloads in the country. Internet hosting and data storage providers will also be prohibited from offering their services to the company. TikTok users who have already downloaded it to their devices can still get access, at least for a short time after the ban goes into effect. After it is removed from the app stores, users will not be able to download updates to TikTok and the app may. more confusing and difficult to use over time. TikTok’s lawyer told the judges that the app will be blacked out after January 19.

Blake Reid, a technology law professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, said the courts have targeted TikTok’s corporate structure, leaving little time for the app’s counsel to argue the merits of its data security argument. “I’m not sure TikTok will lose this argument, but they spent so much time on it that they couldn’t make arguments about national security, privacy and security. It is part of the government’s work.”

Alan Rosenstein, a law professor and former Justice Department national security adviser, says the justices were more sympathetic to the government’s security concerns. “It’s very believable that TikTok got a few votes,” Rozenshtein said. “I think the three are Justice Sotomayor, Gorsuch and maybe Kagan, but I’m struggling to see TikTok get the five votes it needs to overturn the law.”

At a press conference after Friday’s hearing, Francisco said the argument “went really well” and that the justices “questioned both sides vigorously.”

It’s unclear when the court will rule, but Rosenstein and Reid believe it will come sooner rather than later. TikTok’s lawyer, Francisco, has suggested that judges could issue a stay or injunction to stop the ban from going into effect as planned, but gave no indication whether they would consider it.

Trump also asked the nation’s highest court to halt the ban in an amicus brief he filed last month, promising to find a “political” solution to save TikTok once he takes back power. “Only President Trump has the expertise in dealing, the electoral mandate and the political will to negotiate to save the platform,” Trump’s lawyer D. John Sauer wrote. documentation. The court has not yet responded to the briefing.

If the judges uphold the ban, the deal with Trump could be TikTok’s last chance for survival.