A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit will hear arguments from TikTok, ByteDance, and a group of users.
They will primarily contend that the law violates free speech rights.
The judges will decide the case in the coming weeks or months, but regardless of their decision, the case is likely to reach the US Supreme Court.
“There is no question: The Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by Jan 19, 2025,” TikTok’s appeal stated, “silencing those who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere”.
TikTok also argued that even if divestiture were possible, the app “would still be reduced to a shell of its former self, stripped of the innovative and expressive technology that tailors content to each user”.
TikTok asserts that “the Constitution is on our side,” as it pushes for a ruling that would favour the app and its 170 million American users.
The US government counters that the law addresses national security concerns, not speech, and that ByteDance cannot claim First Amendment rights in the United States.
“Given TikTok’s broad reach within the United States, the capacity for China to use TikTok’s features to achieve its overarching objective to undermine American interests creates a national-security threat of immense depth and scale,” the US Justice Department wrote in its filing.
The US argues that ByteDance could and would comply with Chinese government demands for data about US users, or yield to Chinese government pressure to censor or promote content on the platform.
From: channelnewsasia
Business News
