On Friday, TikTok and the Justice Department jointly requested that a federal appeals court expedite consideration of a challenge to a new law mandating that the app either divest from its Chinese parent company or be banned in the United States due to national security concerns.
The request was filed by TikTok, ByteDance, a group of content creators who joined the petition, and the DOJ.
They argue that the court should make a decision by December 6th, allowing time for a potential Supreme Court review before the January 19th, 2025 deadline mandated by the law.
The new law, signed by President Joe Biden on April 24th, prohibits any entity from distributing, maintaining, or updating TikTok in the United States unless ByteDance divests its ownership by the deadline.
ByteDance has stated that it will not sell TikTok, leaving the company to either challenge the law or be prohibited from the U.S.
app marketplace next year.
TikTok and some of its users argue in their May 14th petition that they will “suffer irreparable harm because the Act violates their First Amendment right to create, share, and receive content through their chosen platform, TikTok.” Additionally, the DOJ informed the court that it may need to file classified material in support of its case on an ex parte basis, meaning that it won’t notify the other parties beforehand.
These classified materials would “support the national security justifications underlying the challenged statute.
Supporters of the law argue that it is a necessary measure to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from accessing U.S.
consumer data and influencing Americans through TikTok’s algorithm.
However, TikTok and ByteDance assert that they have never shared and will not share U.S.
user data with the CCP, despite China’s counterespionage law requiring such cooperation if requested.
The petition to the appeals court argues that the law imposes an unprecedented nationwide ban on a single speech platform, barring Americans from a global online community.
For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than one billion people worldwide,” TikTok said in its May 7th filing.
Prior to the law’s passage, lawmakers in Congress received classified national security intelligence briefings.
It was concluded that TikTok poses a “grave risk” to national security, according to Rep.
John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Select Committee on the CCP.
The proposed schedule includes opening briefs for both TikTok and Creator Petitioners due on June 20th, followed by amicus curiae briefs on June 27th.
The respondent’s consolidated answering brief is proposed for July 26th, with amicus curiae briefs in support of the respondent due by August 2nd.
Reply briefs for both TikTok and Creator Petitioners are proposed for August 15th.
Additionally, the parties request oral arguments to be scheduled for the earliest possible date in the Court’s September 2024 sitting.
The petitioners argue that the law, which has a possible 90-day extension at the president’s discretion, effectively bans TikTok and causes irreparable harm to the company and its users.