Ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s scheduled hearing on social media company TikTok’s appeal of its ban on the popular platform, three First Amendment advocates filed an amicus brief in support of the app on Friday. It also included partisan members.
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) join Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to block efforts to protect Americans from foreign enemies. asked the court to grant TikTok an emergency injunction. The Application Regulation Law prohibits the platform’s Chinese parent company from banning the app on January 19 unless it sells its shares by then.
The law and the ban on TikTok “will strip millions of Americans of their First Amendment rights,” the lawmakers said.
“A ban on TikTok will not survive First Amendment scrutiny,” Markey, Paul and Khanna added. “Its main justification, namely preventing covert content manipulation by the Chinese government, reflects a desire to control content on the TikTok platform, which could in any case be achieved through less restrictive alternatives. .”
The law was signed by President Joe Biden in April over the objections of First Amendment supporters, and a federal appeals court upheld the ban earlier this month. The Supreme Court subsequently agreed to hear TikTok’s challenge.
Human rights groups including the ACLU, Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), and Press Freedom Foundation also filed a court brief on Friday, arguing that the government has not presented sufficient evidence that the app is illegal. . It is used by 170 million Americans and causes “continued or imminent harm.”
Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, said some creators use it to share commentary on geopolitical events, reflect on pop culture and create humorous videos. The government’s attempt to ban Americans from using TikTok is “unusual and unprecedented.”
”“This social media platform has allowed people around the world to tell their stories during key moments of social upheaval, war, and natural disasters, and reach a huge audience around the world.” he said.
He said TikTok is a “unique forum for online expression, and the connections and communities that many people have built there cannot be easily replaced. TikTok creators can’t simply transfer their viewers and followers to another app.” TikTok users cannot do so.” It’s not just a reassembly of the many voices they’ve discovered on the platform. ”
Kate Ruane, director of the Freedom of Expression Project at CDT, said the group’s court brief states that “national security interests do not diminish the protections afforded by the First Amendment, and the court should not restrict speech.” “This makes it clear that similarly stringent standards must be held for laws that apply to the government.”
“Further, the D.C. Circuit misapplied strict oversight by failing to adequately consider the government’s vague and unspecific national security justification for enacting this law.” “There are,” Luan said. “Given the law’s blanket freedom of expression prohibition, the coalition’s brief argues that the court should block enforcement of the law protecting Americans from foreign adversary control applications.”
