TikTok

Robby Soave | 9.17.2024 9:34 AM

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard TikTok's defense on Monday, as the social media company sought to persuade the three-judge panel that Congress's attempts to ban the platform are a violation of the First Amendment.

It's not clear that the judges were persuaded. Judge Neomi Rao, a Trump appointee, and Judge Douglas Ginsburg, a Reagan appointee, both seemed skeptical of TikTok's argument that Congress lacked the authority to force a sale of the app to a U.S.-based company.

"I know Congress doesn't legislate all the time, but here they did," said Rao. "They actually passed a law. And many of your arguments want us to treat them like they're an agency."

The federal government's initial attempts to ban TikTok took place under the Trump administration. In August of 2020, President Donald Trump issued an executive order that required TikTok's Chinese-owned parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app to a U.S.-based firm. President Joe Biden cancelled that executive order, but instructed his administration to investigate whether concerns about Chinese malfeasance on the platform were justified.

Then, in March of 2024, Congress passed legislation to again force the sale, and Biden signed it. Trump has since changed his tune on TikTok, and now claims—not wrongly—that banning TikTok would reduce competition and enhance Meta's dominance.

But........

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