The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Friday in one of the most significant free-speech cases of the social- media era. The case could determine whether the wildly popular TikTok app can continue operating in the US without severing its ties with its Chinese parent, ByteDance.
Advertisement
Noel Francisco, representing the embattled TikTok, said the US government’s “real target” in banning TikTok was “speech itself”.
“It’s fear that Americans, even if fully informed, could be persuaded by Chinese misinformation,” he told the court. “That, however, is a decision that the First Amendment leaves to the people,” arguing that the government’s data security rationale should not take precedence.
As the hearing opened Francisco, who served as US solicitor general from 2017 to 2020 during Donald Trump’s first administration, faced pointed questions from the court over the social media’s Chinese ownership.
“Why does a restriction on ByteDance, which is not a citizen, is not located in the US, a restriction on TikTok?” asked Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, adding: “You’re converting the restriction on ByteDance ownership of the algorithm and the company into a restriction on TikTok speech. So why can’t we simply look at it as a restriction on ByteDance”?
Advertisement
In response, Francisco said that any forced divesture “imposes a burden on TikTok’s speech”.