TikTok Quizzed on China Connection as It Makes Plea Against Imminent US Ban**
The US Supreme Court is currently hearing an appeal by TikTok against a law that will ban the platform in nine days unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. TikTok’s lawyer argues that the law violates the free speech rights of its approximately 170 million American users.
Concerns Over Data Collection
The US government has raised concerns that TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation. Justice Brett Kavanaugh highlighted the risks related to the platform’s collection of data, describing it as a “huge concern for the future of the country”. The government argues that TikTok’s data collection practices could allow China to develop spies or blackmail young people who might work for agencies like the FBI in the future.
TikTok’s Défense
TikTok’s lawyer, Noel Francisco, maintains that the law requiring TikTok’s sale or ban would be a “direct burden” on its free speech. He argues that Congress should have considered alternatives to the ban, such as prohibiting the sharing of sensitive data. Francisco also emphasized that TikTok’s data is stored in servers in Virginia and that the app is unable to share this sensitive user data with anyone.
Impact on Content Creators
Jeffrey Fisher, representing TikTok creators, argued that the ban promotes the suppression of ideas and restricts the First Amendment rights of American creators to participate and speak in the “modern public square”. He emphasized that American creators have the right to work with publishers of their choice, and closing down TikTok would hinder this choice.
Future of TikTok
If the law goes into effect, TikTok will have to stop operating in the US on January 19. Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggested that TikTok could continue to operate if ByteDance were willing to divest from the company. However, Francisco argued that transferring the ByteDance algorithm source code to TikTok would be a major burden and would result in a fundamentally new platform.
As the Supreme Court deliberates on this contentious issue, the future of TikTok in the US hangs in the balance. The decision will have significant implications for the platform’s millions of users and content creators.
