US Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok

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Those who depend on TikTok for their livilihood face uncertainty if the US ban holds.

SOURCE: AFP— The US Supreme Court on Friday upheld a law that will ban TikTok in the United States, potentially denying the video-sharing app to 170 million users in two days.

In a major defeat for TikTok, the court ruled that the law does not violate free speech rights and that the US government had demonstrated legitimate national security concerns about a Chinese company owning the app.

The Supreme Court last week heard arguments from the company, ByteDance, that the law should be stopped because it was a violation of free speech.

“There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community,” the justices said.

“But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok’s data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary,” they concluded.

With that decision, Sunday’s ban effectively stands even if lawmakers and officials across the political spectrum were calling for some sort of delay.

Congress overwhelmingly passed a law last year forcing ByteDance to either sell the platform or close it in the United States by January 19.

The law was an answer to widespread belief in Washington that the highly popular app could be used by China for spying or propaganda.

White House officials on Friday told US media that they would not enforce the ban and leave it up to President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office a day later.

Trump said that he discussed TikTok in a phone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.

Speaking to Fox News on Thursday, Trump’s incoming national security advisor Mike Waltz said the administration would put in place measures “to keep TikTok from going dark.”

“The legislation allows for an extension as long as a viable deal is on the table,” he said. “Essentially that buys president Trump time to keep TikTok going.”

“It’s been a great platform for him and his campaign to get his America first message out,” he added. “But at the same time, he wants to protect (users’) data.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday also called for a looming TikTok ban to be delayed.

“It’s clear that more time is needed to find an American buyer and not disrupt the lives and livelihoods of millions of Americans, of so many influencers who have built up a good network of followers,” Schumer said.

To execute the ban, the US government would direct Apple and Google to remove TikTok from their app stores, preventing new downloads starting the day before Trump takes office.

TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco stated the site would “go dark” on Sunday if the justices fail to block the ban, and a media report said the company was planning a full suspension of service in the United States.

Campaigning ahead of the November election, Trump pledged to save TikTok and his team has been mulling ways to stall the ban or rescue the app.

Once Trump takes office, the law’s implementation will fall to his attorney general, who could choose not to enforce it, or stall, defying Congress’s support for the legislation.

TikTok has been lobbying furiously to thwart the law’s implementation and CEO Shou Chew will attend Trump’s inauguration on Monday.

TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

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10 COMMENTS

  1. Well done!!!! Good riddance!!!! Some of the dumbest, rudest and entitled people we have in the world today are a result of Tik Tok.

  2. @Curious George, I guess they should ban Carnival also, some of us ack as if we where saints in our young days

  3. Bout time tbh. It’s ground zero for the utter nonsense that’s gotten outta hand including the rainbow mafia cult that want all the letters and promotions of mental illness as a fking joke.

  4. FORGONE CONCLUSION: …VISIT/BRIEFING AT PENTAGON

    This has always been a ‘…FORGONE CONCLUSION.’

    Privileged to have had a ‘…Training Briefing’ at the ‘…PRESIDENT’S BRIEFING ROOM,’ and these were among the ‘FOREMOST CONCERN/INTERESTS’ as ‘briefly expounded by a ‘…Four-Star General:

    (i) ‘…UNITED STATES INTERESTS include:

    (a) …NATIONAL SECURITY:

    (b) …NATIONAL ECONOMY: and its

    (c) …CITIZENS.’

    ‘…Thus, the ‘United States ‘…MOVE IN:

    (ii) …ELIMINATE THREATS: then

    (iii) …MOVE OUT.’

    ***

    MILITARISTIC PERSPECTIVE:

    Such was from a ‘Militaristic Perspective.’

    ***

    TOUGH AND DECISIVE

    Not only with its ‘…Military Power and Might,’ but this is just that which:

    (i) ‘…TOUGH AND COURAGEOUS LEADERS DO: and

    (ii) …DECISIVE LEADERSHIP’ have always been about.’

    ***

    RESTRICTED:

    THIS SHALL NOT TO BE READ BY THE ‘…Most Honorable- JAMALE PRINGLE.’

    ***

    UNANIMITY:

    Today, by the ‘…United States,’ and by ‘…UNANIMITY,’ democratically and judicially, this has been ”’…DECISIVE LEADERSHIP,’ made demonstrably clear.’

    ***
    THE LEADER ‘…FOLOWS’ NO ONE. HE/SHE ‘…LEADS’ FROM THE FRONT.

    LEAD GOOD.

  5. @Geopolitic issues … About Carnival, I personally think Carnival has lost all meaning and has just become smut. Serves no purpose other than allowing people to use it as an excuse to show the nastiness they want to be able to do in public…

  6. Here are somethings I want banned here, that will aid in the overall uplifting of our melinated people ( particularly).
    – carnival
    -bleaching
    -wigs and eyelashes
    -so many junk food businesses opening all over the island
    -underwear exposure

  7. WEF/NWO/Great Reset/Agenda2030: only our narrative is allowed. Sheeple misunderstanding of the reality of freedom and the illusion of freedom supports their own loss of it…to satisfy THEIR discomfort. The biggest perpetrators of misinformation/propaganda are the same people convincing you they’re trying to prevent it So, get ready, for the herding of humanity into the digital dystopia the oligarchs have lurking around the corner. Huge thanks to the sheeple!

    https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19oZ2kVvXm/?mibextid=wwXIfr

  8. The above link is a SAFE one…it’s on FB videos. Who, exactly, is trying to HIDE the information in that video? We should be more concerned about them than we are about TikTok.

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