US Senate Bill to Ban TikTok: Free Speech Concerns and Potential Legal Challenges
The US Senate passed a bill to ban TikTok from app stores unless its Chinese owner sells it, potentially leading to a court battle over the app's free speech protections under the US Constitution.
The bill itself does not mention speech, but civil rights advocates, TikTok, and users have expressed concerns and may sue if President Biden signs it into law.
Legal experts have criticized a proposed U.S. law to ban the use of TikTok, arguing it could infringe on free speech rights by limiting users' ability to express themselves and businesses to promote products.
TikTok has previously challenged a similar ban in Montana, which is currently being appealed.
Jameel Jaffer, head of the Knight First Amendment Institute, labeled the legislative effort as "censorship" in a letter to lawmakers in March.
If a court agrees, it would apply strict scrutiny, requiring the government to prove that the ban does not violate speech rights under the First Amendment and that less restrictive measures are not available to achieve national security goals.
The text discusses a bill aimed at forcing TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to sell its U.S. operations within a year due to concerns over data access for users.
The bill's supporters argue it's not about speech but a commercial regulation.
The D.C. Circuit Court will handle any legal challenges, and TikTok may request a preliminary injunction to delay the law's enforcement while contesting its legality.