THREATENED U.S BAN ON TIKTOK ‘VIOLATES FREE SPEECH’ – TikTok contests looming ban in court
TikTok took its case against a threatened US ban to a federal court where it contended that a law targeting the video platform was “unconstitutional”.
TikTok’s lawyer Andrew Pincus, argued that the US government had not demonstrated that TikTok poses national security risks and that the law violates the US Constitution on a number of grounds including running afoul of First Amendment free speech protections.
The contested law gives ByteDance until Jan. 19 to sell or divest TikTok’s U.S. assets or face a ban in the United States. Driven by worries that China could access data on Americans or spy on them with the app, the U.S. Congress passed the measureand President Joe Biden signed it into law in April.
The White House has said it wants to see Chinese-based ownership ended on national security grounds, but not a ban on TikTok. However, Trump has said if elected in November he would not allow TikTok to be barred.
