On Monday, TikTok plans to appeal against the law forcing the social media application to be banned within the US unless its parent company. ByteDance, sells the app with a time frame of nine months. It is one of the laws that the US signed in April. Where the president cited national interest- with data protection. And the threat of the Chinese government using the information to intimidate the citizens. TikTok and ByteDance have not acknowledged any countries influenced them including China. And as such, this law is viewed as an “unprecedented invasion of the right to free speech,”.
TikTok Defends Its Case in Court
TikTok carries over 170 million American active users. Thus making a filing in Washington, DC. Where the firm targets and nations is very strategic. Eight creators, including a rancher from Texas and a baker from Tennessee who use the app for marketing and income will also join the company in court. Prosecutors from the DoJ shall also be seen exercising their duties arguing on behalf of them where subjects and the national assets are at risk and the potential of the platform to be utilized by the Chinese government for propaganda purposes.
Repression of Freedom of Expression TikTok
The proponents of free speech maintain that implementing the law may show other nations the way toward tyranny. Wag Xnangnong, an attorney at Columbia University Knight Institute of First Amendment, voiced concerns that the prohibition might breed the inclination in despotic rulers to initiate similar laws on their subjects. Wang chastised the authorities for failing to offer any details on the national security risks and threats posed by Tik-tok, such restrictions on First Amendment rights are very much unprecedented.
Protecting The Country Vs. The Right To Speak
In his analysis at the Center for Strategic. And International Studies James Lewis argues that the aim of the law was to create a defense up to any judicial challenge. Stressing that the regulation of speech is not the requirement for issuing necessary for ByteDance. Lewis posits that the judicial system is often a check for the executive. Where the sensitive issues of national security are in the equation. So the argument against is robust.
The Supreme Court Will Drag It All the Way To The Courts
Analysts expect that the war of the worlds will last that long, if not longer, maybe to the very end of the Supreme Court. Vice President and Research Director at Forrester Mike Proulx recounted the events saying, ‘Next week we’ll resolve everything.’ At the same time he pointed out that the situation is very complicated. And loaded with risks, and it is necessary to untangle it completely and carefully.
