TikTok lawyers argue that a law allowing for a ban in the US violates the First Amendment by suppressing speech. They claim the platform's closure would silence not only TikTok's own speech but also that of its 170 million American users.
Lawyers for TikTok urged the Supreme Court on Friday to find unconstitutional a new law that could lead to a ban of the widely popular app in the United States, arguing that shuttering TikTok will silence not only its speech, but also that of the platform's more than 170 million American users. President-elect Donald Trump also filed a separate brief in which he stated that he opposes the ban at the current moment and requests time to resolve the dispute via political negotiations.
In an opening brief filed with the justices, which provides a first look at the arguments TikTok will make to the high court next month, lawyers for the platform urged them to reverse a decision from a three-judge appeals court panel that upheld the ban.Lawyers for TikTok said in their filing that they 'do not contest Congress's compelling interest in protecting this nation's security, or the many weapons it has to do so. But that arsenal simply does not include suppressing the speech of Americans because other Americans may be persuaded.'In its own filing laying out arguments for upholding the ban, the Justice Department argued the law is consistent with the First Amendment and said the government has a compelling interest in preventing threats to national security posed by control of TikTok by a foreign adversary, China.The law, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar wrote, 'addresses the serious threats to national security posed by the Chinese government's control of TikTok, a platform that harvests sensitive data about tens of millions of Americans and would be a potent tool for covert influence operations by a foreign adversary. And the Act mitigates those threats not by imposing any restriction on speech, but instead by prohibiting a foreign adversary from controlling the platform.'The high court said last week that it would take up TikTok's challenge to the ban, which was passed by Congress as part of a foreign aid package in Apri
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