TikTok Banned from Operating in the US, Company Goes to Appeals Court

The globally popular TikTok app is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. The company has always denied any links with the government of the Middle Kingdom. However, it is these relationships and the fear that the data of 170 million users from USA can be used by the Chinese government were the reason for the signing by the US president Joe Biden in April that would ban TikTok from operating in the United States unless ByteDance sells the app.

On Monday, a trial will begin in Washington, D.C., in which ByteDance's lawyers will argue their case in a three-judge panel. The company's representatives will be joined by eight TikTok users, including a Texas farmer and a Tennessee baker, who say they rely on the platform to promote their products and make a living, according to the BBC.

After their statements, it will be time for U.S. Justice Department lawyers to make their case. In addition to concerns about the data, Justice Department officials and lawmakers have previously expressed concern about the prospect of the Chinese government using TikTok to spread propaganda to Americans.

However, supporters of the right to free speech in the U.S., which is enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, argue that maintaining the right to divest or prohibit would be a gift to authoritarian regimes around the world.

“We shouldn't be surprised if repressive governments around the world begin to invoke this precedent to justify new restrictions on their own citizens' rights to access information, ideas and media from abroad,” Xiangnong Wang, a staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, told the BBC.

He filed an “amicus brief” – legal papers submitted by someone who is not a party to a case but has an interest in it, offering information or expertise, usually with the hope of influencing the outcome.

Wang also criticized lawmakers for failing to clearly define the specific national security threats they say TikTok poses.

“We can think of no prior case in which such a broad restriction of First Amendment rights has been found to be constitutional based on undisclosed evidence,” he said.

But the law is designed to withstand judicial scrutiny, according to James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “The substance of the case against TikTok is very strong,” Lewis told the BBC. “The key issue is whether the court accepts that the divestiture request does not govern speech,” he pointed out.

Regardless of the appeals court’s ruling, most experts agree that the case could drag on for months, if not longer. “Nothing will be resolved next week,” said Mike Proulx, vice president and director of research at Forrester, an analyst firm. “This is a very complicated case with high stakes that will likely end up in the Supreme Court,” he said.