TikTok resorts to the Supreme Court in a last-ditch attempt to avoid being banned in America
The TikTok application resorted to the US Supreme Court as a last resort to continue its operations in the United States, as it asked it to temporarily block a law requiring ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns the application, to withdraw its investments from the short video application from the country by January 19 Or face a ban.
Tik Tok and ByteDance submitted an emergency request to judges to issue an injunction to stop the imminent ban on the social media application used by about 170 million Americans while they appeal the lower court ruling that upheld the law. A group of app users in the United States submitted a similar request yesterday, Monday as well.
Congress passed the law in April. The Justice Department said that TikTok, as a Chinese company, poses a “widespread national security threat.” Because of its access to massive amounts of data about American users, from websites to private messages, and its ability to secretly manipulate the content Americans watch on the app. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington rejected TikTok’s arguments that the law violates freedom of expression protections under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
TikTok and ByteDance said in their application to the Supreme Court, "If Americans choose, “For those who have been informed of the alleged dangers of ‘secret’ content manipulation to continue viewing content on TikTok with intense interest and concentration, the First Amendment entitles them to that choice, without government oversight.” The two companies added, “If the dissenting position of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals remains unchanged, Congress will be free to prevent any American from speaking by specifying certain risks of the speech being influenced by a foreign entity.”
The two companies said that their ban was for a month. Just one would cause TikTok to lose about a third of its US users and undermine its ability to attract advertisers and hire talented content creators and staff. TikTok, which describes itself as “the most important platform for expression,” said: used in the United States, said that there is no imminent threat to American national security and that delaying enforcement of the law would allow the Supreme Court to consider the legality of the ban, and would also allow the next administration of President-elect Donald Trump to evaluate the law as well.
The two companies added in their request that the law “He will close one of the most popular expression platforms in America the day before the President’s inauguration.”
- For more: Follow Khaleejion 24 Arabic, Khaleejion 24 English, Khaleejion 24 Live, and for social media follow us on Facebook and
