Courts

ByteDance Isn’t The Only One Fighting The TikTok Ban

Things are heating up!

By Chris Williams on June 18, 2024 5:18 pm

TikTok and Facebook application on screen Apple iPhone XRByteDance, the parent company that owns TikTok, has a clear interest in the app’s continued use in America. You know who else does? The content creators and consumers of the app! From Reuters:

A U.S. appeals court on Monday said it will hold oral arguments on Sept. 16 on legal challenges to a new law requiring China-based ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets by Jan. 19 or face a ban.
On May 14, a group of TikTok creators filed suit to block the law that could ban the app used by 170 million Americans, saying it has had “a profound effect on American life” after TikTok and parent company ByteDance filed a similar lawsuit.
You’d be remiss to wave away the profundity claim as hyperbole. When it comes to learning about current events, a significant amount of younger Americans gather their information from TikTok. When it comes to self expression and free speech, both detractors and supporters to Congress’s functional ban speak of TikTok as a respective threat or boon to national security and free thought.
The TikTokers’ Thursday deadline to submit their briefs is rapidly approaching — good luck with editing under such high stakes.

Appeals Court To Hear Challenges To Potential US TikTok Ban On Sept. 16 [Reuters]

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.