Circuit Court Legal System

A panel of three judges on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals today questioned lawyers from the Department of Justice, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, and users of the app about the constitutionality of the Protecting Americans From Foreign Controlled Applications Act, which Congress passed and President Biden signed back in April.

Under the law, ByteDance would have to sell TikTok — a sale that the Chinese government has said is illegal under Chinese law — or see it banned in the United States as of January 19, 2025. ByteDance, TikTok, and “creators” who post on the app have challenged the law, arguing (among other things) that it violates the First Amendment.

At the oral argument, Judges Sri Srinavasan, Douglas Ginsburg, and Neomi Rao were focused largely on the recommendations algorithm that powers TikTok’s powerful For You page. The algorithm — which is the primary determiner of what videos people see on the app — is written by engineers for TikTok’s........

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