Free speech advocates in the US argued before the Supreme Court that the law against TikTok is reminiscent of censorship regimes imposed by authoritarian enemies of the United States.
Organizations such as PEN America and the Free Press are calling for the law to be repealed because it violates the First Amendment of the US Constitution, Reuters reports.
They called on the nation’s highest court to overturn the federal law banning TikTok or forcing the sale. PEN America and the Free Press argued that the law not only illegally threatened to restrict Americans’ access to foreign media in violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, but also “reminiscent of a practice long associated with repressive governments.”
The report says the Soviet Union and Chinese communists jammed Western radio broadcasts after World War II, while modern Russia and China have many restrictions on websites and programs, including Facebook, X and YouTube.
TikTok and its owner ByteDance are fighting to keep the popular app online in the United States after Congress voted in April to ban it unless ByteDance sells it by Jan. 19.
The Justice Department said China’s TikTok poses a “significant national security threat of enormous proportions” due to its access to vast amounts of data on American users. The justices accepted the government’s argument that it was acting solely to protect the U.S. from a “foreign adversarial nation” and impede Beijing’s ability to collect data on Americans.
In a statement, free speech advocates said any effort to protect Americans’ data would be better achieved through privacy legislation rather than banning a popular form of expression.
The report noted that if successful, the US would ironically join Beijing’s practice in banning TikTok. Chinese authorities only allow the home version of the app, called Douyin, which is subject to strict censorship.
Earlier, Donald Trump also asked the Supreme Court to delay the January 19 deadline for a potential TikTok ban.
Source: Racurs
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