What’s next after the US Supreme Court upholds TikTok Ban? An expert explains
Supreme Court upholds federal law banning TikTok in US: What it means
TikTok could face a ban in the U.S. as early as this Sunday. This morning, we spoke with a law professor from the University of Washington to gain deeper insight into the situation and its potential implications for the app's future.
SEATTLE - TikTok faces a ban in the United States starting Sunday unless the social media platform severs ties with its China-based parent company, according to a new Supreme Court ruling.
On Friday, the Supreme Court sided with arguments that the company's ties to China pose a national security threat, dismissing concerns over potential restrictions on the free speech of TikTok and its millions of American users.
President Joe Biden has stated he will not enforce the ruling, leaving it to President-elect Donald Trump, who will assume office the day after the ban is supposed to take effect.
Questions are being raised about whether the TikTok ban violates the First Amendment and whether it will actually be enforced.
Friday morning on "Good Day Seattle," FOX 13 Seattle Anchor Bill Wixey spoke with Ryan Calo, a professor at the University of Washington School of Law, to shed more light on the subject.
How does the Supreme Court’s TikTok ban ruling affect First Amendment rights and foreign ownership?
Ryan Calo, UW School of Law:
"I was surprised and disappointed by the decision. The idea of banning a platform because you're worried that Americans are going to get access to information from a foreign place – we usually associate that with an oppressive regime," Calo said. "We have millions of Americans who, if the ban goes into effect, will not be able to use their preferred communications method and will lose all of the posts that they've done before."
Bill Wixey, FOX 13 Seattle:
"The concern from lawmakers is that the Chinese government is harvesting user information. Is that all it’s about? And could we see similar bans on other apps?"
Calo:
"The Supreme Court focused on a couple of things. First of all, it said that Congress’s motivation was at least, in large part, a concern over collecting data about Americans that it might share with the Chinese government. So, the court reasoned that collecting data and sharing it is not exactly speech," Calo said. "And the second thing is it said it’s not regulating speech. In fact, the court said this curious thing. It said, ‘We’re not regulating TikTok users at all. We’re just regulating TikTok, and we’re only regulating who owns it.’ So, the combination of those two things led the court to believe this is fine.
Now, an actual point of fact: Congress was also worried about China influencing Americans. Certain people who voted for the ban talked about how they didn’t like the content on TikTok because they thought it was biased and problematic. I think it’s, in reality, a lot more complicated."
What will Donald Trump do about the TikTok ban?
Calo:
"I think a lot of politicians are suddenly realizing that the ban they passed is actually going to ban an app," said Calo. "Incidentally, I would not be too comfortable assuming that you’ll still be able to use TikTok. The ban, when it goes into effect, prohibits anybody, any company from helping TikTok reach Americans, so I think it’s just going to go dark."
What the president could do is just decide not to enforce the law and try to work out a deal that satisfies the ban by changing ownership of TikTok. That’s essentially what he could do. He could come in and say, ‘Look, let’s put this on pause. I’m not going to enforce the ban …’"
Wixey (Interjecting):
"And he can get 90 days to make this happen."
Calo:
"Technically, he shouldn’t be able to, because the 90 days ended the day before he takes office," Calo said. "But, in point of fact, both Biden and the incoming president agree that they need more time, so they’ll take more time."
Why didn’t ByteDance divest in the US before the TikTok law expired?
Calo:
"If it turns out that TikTok can easily change owners in a way that satisfies the U.S. government, that will run against what they’ve been saying all along, which is, ‘That’s not possible,’" Calo said Friday.
"TikTok has been saying, ‘Look, we can’t divest. The Chinese government won’t let us. ByteDance won’t let us. If we disentangle ourselves from TikTok globally, it won’t work as well.’ So, we’ll see if they do it.
One thing they can do is — a lot of people have buyer’s remorse about banning TikTok, once the courts didn’t save them by rendering it unconstitutional. Another possibility is there might be something that’s kind of performative, where they’ll say, ‘Oh, look, we’ve got a series of investors, and they’ve invested 51%, and now we’re fine,’ and they’ll leave everything else like it is."
The Source: Information for this story came from an interview with University of Washington School of Law professor Ryan Calo.Â
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