Supreme Court will hear arguments over law that could ban TikTok in U.S. if it’s not sold
The justices will hear arguments Jan. 10 about whether the law impermissibly restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment.
The justices will hear arguments Jan. 10 about whether the law impermissibly restricts speech in violation of the First Amendment.
A federal appeals court on Friday left in place a mid-January deadline in a federal law requiring TikTok to be sold or face a ban in the United States.
As in past years, YouTube was the single most popular platform teenagers used. There was a slight downward trend in several other popular apps teens used.
The company said the Supreme Court should have an opportunity to wade into the matter given it is an “exceptionally important case” that could force a shutdown of “one of the Nation’s most popular speech platforms.”
The U.S. has said it’s concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion.
A virtually identical share of Republicans and Democrats regularly get their news from digital influencers who are more likely to be found on the social media platform X, according to a report by the Pew Research Center.
The Federal Trade Commission lawsuit accusing Facebook owner Meta of holding an illegal monopoly over social media.
The video-sharing app faces a January deadline to find a new owner not based in China or lose access to U.S. users, under a law passed in April with bipartisan support.
TikTok faces intensifying scrutiny from Europe and America over security and data privacy. It comes as China and the West are locked in a wider tug of war over technology ranging from spy balloons to computer chips.
At the heart of each lawsuit is the TikTok algorithm, which powers what users see on the platform by populating the app’s main “For You” feed with content tailored to people’s interests.
The lawsuit allege the app contains “salacious and inappropriate content” and deceives consumers into believing their sensitive and personal information is secure.
Before a panel of three judges at a federal appeals court, attorneys for the two sides—and content creators—were pressed on their best arguments for and against the law that forces the two companies to break ties by mid-January or lose one of their biggest markets in the world.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also said he would no longer donate money to widen election access for voters after dishing out more than $400 million for that purpose in 2020.
The legal action adds to a growing swarm of suits against the company from state attorneys general and school districts aiming to tie America’s teen mental health crisis to social media.
The latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok violated federal law that requires kid-oriented apps to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13.
By a 6-3 vote, the justices threw out lower-court rulings that favored Louisiana, Missouri and other parties in their claims that administration officials leaned on social media platforms to squelch conservative points of view.
Dr. Vivek Murthy said social media is a contributing factor in the mental health crisis among young people and should carry warning labels similar to those now mandatory on cigarette boxes.
If a sale occurs, the former owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers said he would plan to restructure TikTok and migrate the platform to an open-source protocol that allows for more transparency.
Attorneys for the creators argue in the lawsuit that the law violates users’ First Amendment rights to free speech, echoing arguments made by TikTok in a separate lawsuit filed by the company last week. The legal challenge could end up before the Supreme Court.
The popular social video company alleges the law, which President Joe Biden signed as part of a larger $95 billion foreign aid package, is “obviously unconstitutional.”