SCOTUS upholds the TikTok divest-or-ban law, saying free speech rights must yield to concerns that Chinese control of the app creates a national-security risk
but Trump Lobbying May Save It Tripp Mickle / New York Times : Oracle May Hold TikTok's Future in Its Hands Solcyré Burga / Time : Everything Trump Has Said About the TikTok Ban Dan Primack / Axios : TikTok ban: Politicians scramble to save app before Sunday Chris Stokel-Walker / Fast Company : The Supreme Court's decision on TikTok may have just turned a generation off politics Mathew Ingram / The Torment Nexus : The TikTok saga has gotten even stupider if that's possible Bluesky: Mike Masnick / @mmasnick : So, the one silver lining I see in the TikTok ruling is not a single Justice appears to have taken Trump's plea to “hey, just put this on hold until my brilliant negotiating skills can fix everything.” @cyberciti.biz : It is official now. #TikTok faces ban in US by Sunday after Supreme Court rejects appeal www.bbc.com/news/live/cz... Under the terms of the law, service provides like Apple and Google will be penalized for supporting TikTok after the law's deadline. Matt Pearce / @mattdpearce.com : The Supes interestingly focused on the data-mining and sidestepped concerns about the Chinese government meddling with TikTok's algo. Gorsuch's concurrence here muddily expresses skepticism of that idea. (The speech here is by the algo operators, not the users.) — www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/ 24p... … Tim Marchman / @timmarchman : This is a relief—at last Americans can use the internet secure in the knowledge that their data are safe from the prying eyes of foreign intelligence agencies that don't have access to credit cards. Matt Pearce / @mattdpearce.com : Reading the 9-0 TikTok ruling. Newsroom unionizing had already given me a darker view of the First Amendment — whether you are a platform user or a staff reporter, your speech rights are typically irrelevant when placed next to the ownership's. We are tenants. — www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/ 24p... … Cecilia Kang / @nytceciliakang : TikTok's only lifeline was Trump stepping in asap. He just posted that he needs time to review the situation and that he'll make a decision in the “not too distant future,” which is absolutely not the vague timeline TikTok wanted. Makena Kelly / @makenakelly : In the end, SCOTUS rules that the law did not violate the free speech rights of TikTok or its users and that the national security risks alleged by the US government were enough to uphold it. — More on TikTok's future here: — www.wired.com/story/tiktok... Peter Sterne / @petersterne.com : Whether or not TikTok actually ends up being banned - it seems that the Biden admin and the lawmakers who championed the ban, not to mention the incoming Trump admin, all now don't want it to go into effect - this is a very dangerous ruling for democracy and free speech. Lucas A. Meyer / @lucas.meyerperin.org : I think that TikTok is likely to be owned by Musk on Monday. This may be a very effective way to keep using TikTok for anti American propaganda, if it is not directly pro-CCP propaganda. Zeyi Yang / @zeyiyang : My 3 cents after reading the SCOTUS opinion that upheld the TikTok ban 9:0 — 1. Gorsuch disagrees the most, though he still joined the decision. He wrote he has “serious reservations about whether the law before us is ‘content neutral’ and thus escapes ‘strict scrutiny.’ — www.wired.com/story/tiktok... Trevor Croker / @trevor : One thing is for sure, SCOTUS just raised the stakes for the cage match on the inauguration dais Casey Newton / @caseynewton : This may be our first case in Trump 2.0 where Congress and the courts say one thing and then Trump just does whatever he wants Matt Rouse / @authormattrouse.hookdm.com : It guess the clock has run out for Tik Tok for now... And people are flocking from X and Meta, so @bsky.app is about to get another big boost. — Quick! Start making vertical video skits and pretending they are IRL! Make up a dance to part of a song! Cooking demos slapping ingredients on countertops! [embedded post] Emily Baker-White / @ebakerwhite : Here, SCOTUS dodges the heart of the argument before it — whether the US gov can manipulate the speech ecosystem to stop the CN gov from manipulating the speech ecosystem. Instead, they say, there's no reason to believe the speech ecosystem rationale was necessary to Congress passing the law. … Mena Ganey / @menaganey : Zuck and Musk bought Clarence a G5. [embedded post] Will Oremus / @willoremus.com : I said in my first post that the court “ruled” that the law implicates the First Amendment. On closer read, that's not quite right. The court “assume[d] without deciding” that the law implicates the First Amendment, and concluded that even if it does, only intermediate scrutiny applies. [image] Adi Robertson / @thedextriarchy : So, the current state of play: — Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban — Biden's not enforcing it because c'mon man, it's a weekend — Could hypothetically see a Sunday shutdown anyway for risk management or a show of force — Trump has nebulous rescue plans for Monday … Will Oremus / @willoremus.com : The Supreme Court upholds the TikTok ban. — Legally speaking, the opinion seems straightforward: The court ruled that the law does implicate the First Amendment, but because it is “content-neutral,” it merits only “intermediate scrutiny,” not the much higher bar of “strict scrutiny.” Kate Klonick / @klonick : SCOTUS TikTok decision just dropped. — TikTok Ban will go into effect on Sunday, January 19, 2025. — Per curiam opinion with Sotoymayor and Gorsuch writing separate concurrences — www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/ 24p... Christopher Terry / @christopherterry : Well, just in time to add it to the syllabus. — www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/ 24p... Folks better start getting ready to see this approach...often: [image] Mark Joseph Stern / @mjsdc : The Supreme Court also declines to consider “classified evidence,” which the government refused to show the public, that allegedly supported the ban, relying on publicly available information instead. (Gorsuch had concerns about this at argument and supports the court's approach in a concurrence.) Mark Joseph Stern / @mjsdc : The Supreme Court holds that strict scrutiny does NOT apply to the TikTok ban, applying intermediate scrutiny instead. And the court relies SOLELY on Congress' argument that TikTok gives the Chinese govt access to private data, declining to endorse the “covert manipulation of content” rational. Mark Joseph Stern / @mjsdc : The Supreme Court UPHOLDS the TikTok ban with no noted dissents, turning away a First Amendment challenge: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/ 24p... Mastodon: @nixCraft@mastodon.social : It is official now. TikTok faces ban in US by Sunday after Supreme Court rejects appeal https://www.bbc.com/... Under the terms of the law, service provides like Apple and Google will be penalized for supporting TikTok after the law's deadline. In other words, app will gone from the Play or App store and automatically deleted from users phone? … Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life@mas.to : The Supreme Court setting a precedent that Congress can't pass laws preventing foreign governments from owning critical companies to the US people for natural security reasons was never going to happen. — The question is now whether Biden or Trump will actually enforce the law. — https://www.theverge.com/... Dave Spector / @Dhmspector@mastodon.social : Well, this is going to get interesting. How much political, social, and literal capital are rightwingers going to sped in order to continue allowing access to these isolating, addictive, manipulative systems? — https://www.theverge.com/... Threads: Chance Miller / @chancehmiller : Biden admin on Supreme Court's TikTok decision today: “Given the sheer fact of timing, this Administration recognizes that actions to implement the law simply must fall to the next Administration, which takes office on Monday.” If only someone had looked at a calendar nine months ago and recognized that the ban was set to take effect the day before the inauguration. … X: Pamela Brown / @pamelabrowncnn : PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP REACTS TO SUPREME COURT DECISION ON TIKTOK: “It ultimately goes up to me, so you're going to see what I'm going to do,” Trump tells me in a brief phone call. He goes on: “Congress has given me the decision, so I'll be making the decision.” He did not provide further details on what that decision would be. @tiktokpolicy : Our response to the Supreme Court decision: https://www.tiktok.com/... Sen. Maria Cantwell / @senatorcantwell : The U.S. government has been trying to get ByteDance to divest since the 2020 Trump Administration Executive Order. I hope President Trump does not now become the one to blink and lose this crucial contest with China. (3/3) Jacob / @jacobfisherdf : AJ and Big Justice are gonna make January 6 look like child's play @s4rah_dev : @armankhon Obvious question is were they doing what they are accused of doing? Arman / @armankhon : @BecauseCulture tiktok algorithm is so much better than reels or youtube shorts. it's honestly not even close. Keith Rabois / @rabois : Despite legacy media coverage of TikTok's fake legal arguments, 11 of 12 federal appellate judges and justices summarily rejected their protestations. Sen. Maria Cantwell / @senatorcantwell : The Supreme Court's 9-0 decision confirmed that there's a real ‘there’ there when it comes to foreign agents' influence on TikTok and the threat to national security. (1/3) Toby Muresianu / @tobyhardtospell : @armankhon @s4rah_dev Are you saying Meta manipulates the algorithm at the behest of the government to promote politically advantageous content abroad? Rat King / @mikeisaac : farewell BookTok, hello, uh, BookXiaohongshu [image] Arman / @armankhon : @s4rah_dev short answer yes, but nothing too different from any other big tech *cough* meta. Arman / @armankhon : @tobyhardtospell @s4rah_dev did you follow the past US elections at all? Aaron Kub / @aaron_kub : @armankhon I suspect the engineering bar is quite high at TikTok? Hopefully a lot of these folks can quickly find a home at other tech companies. Would not be surprised if Meta already has a plan to swoop them up George Monbiot / @georgemonbiot : Tiktok has been banned in the US on the grounds that China could use it “to manipulate and control Americans by spreading propaganda and misinformation.” In other words, China *might do* exactly what Elon Musk *has done* with X. It's a blatant double standard. Arman / @armankhon : @ThatMoni if tiktok poses a national security threat, then meta poses a domestic terrorist threat. Mark Suster / @msuster : Big victory for national security. Unanimous decision by Supreme Court to ban or sell TikTok 💪🏼 💪🏼 Reminder: China doesn't allow US social media for the same reason. [image] Annalisa Fernandez / @becauseculture : @armankhon Is the “secret sauce” algorithm today any better than the competition? Or is it now just the network effects of the originally novel UI off the interest graph? Moni / @thatmoni : @armankhon Do you personally believe TikTok poses a national security threat? Sen. Maria Cantwell / @senatorcantwell : I hope the Trump administration will find a solution to shut the Chinese government backdoor, improve the platform, and help content creators earn more revenue for their work. (2/3) Arman / @armankhon : I quit my $330k engineering job at TikTok. Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban. Ask Me Anything. Jessica Karl / @jkarl26 : TikTok changed SO many lives. But there's a part of me that wonders whether the big cultural shift we're all dreading — the app's demise — could be the first step to solving our creativity crisis. Read my latest @opinion column for free: https://www.bloomberg.com/... Arman / @armankhon : @aaron_kub yea all my ex-teammates interviewing with meta, the biggest monopoly of all time about to take place. Rat King / @mikeisaac : TikTok engineer doing an ‘ask me anything’ on twitter has been an interesting thing to watch taking this opportunity to plug our story from this morning that likely got lost in the news deluge Meta and YT are gearing up bigtime, per internal reporting https://www.nytimes.com/... [image] @cremieuxrecueil : TikTok is a danger not just to its users, but also to their friends, colleagues, and acquaintances whose contact information is also gathered by the app. The ban can't come soon enough. Russell T. Warne / @russwarne : I read the legal opinion. Here's what you should know: ➡️TikTok lost almost every single argument it made. ➡️This is a 9-0 ruling. That sends a resounding message. ➡️TikTok's data collection practices are insane. The app gather data that other apps normally consider off limits, Jason Kint / @jason_kint : The most undercovered story about to happen is the $100 million of advertising spend that may need a new home starting in 48 hours. That desire and demand creation is what fuels the entire business. There will be other homes for it. Alexandra S. Levine / @ali_lev : Today's SCOTUS decision on TikTok forces leaders both within the company and in Beijing to consider a dwindling set of alternatives to keep the app alive. Trump says “I must have time to review the situation.” On the (messy) road ahead, w/ @KurtWagner8:https://www.bloomberg.com/ ... Sara Eisen / @saraeisen : If President Trump wants to preserve TikTok in the U.S. beyond Sunday because of a credible divestiture on the table, Frank McCourt is ready. Tim Sweeney / @timsweeneyepic : America should never silence any publisher of speech. Democracy is strong and will survive challenge from other ideas, foreign and domestic. Now we'll see if Apple and Google, who censor American speech in China, will now silence a Chinese publisher in America. Sheel Mohnot / @pitdesi : Interesting that the market isn't pricing in any benefit to Meta if TikTok gets banned. They stand to gain most IMO— look at IG Reels in India after TikTok left. Competitors popped up, but Reels dominated. India became IG's biggest market, jumped from 50M DAUs to 220M! [image] Kaya Yurieff / @kyurieff : New from me and @JuroOsawa on lead up to SCOTUS decision: -TikTok CEO never explained clear backup plan if legal fight failed. At times, said he hadn't thought about it -TikTok operated biz as usual -Staff are finishing 2024 performance reviews this week https://www.theinformation.com/ ... Trung Phan / @trungtphan : Just realized something about the TikTok Ban. What if this leads to China turning around and banning a bunch of foreign media and tech such as: • Facebook • X/Twitter • Instagram • YouTube • WhatsApp • Netflix • Google • Google Maps • Google Drive • Google Docs • Nikita Bier / @nikitabier : The fact TikTok didn't sell, despite having many willing buyers, is a testament that it was an agent of the CCP. @geiger_capital : Important to note that this was a unanimous vote by the Supreme Court. The entire court from left to right ruled that free speech rights must yield to national security concerns from a foreign adversary. Timothy B. Lee / @binarybits : The first Amendment arguments against requiring TikTok to divest always seemed ridiculous, so I'm glad that all nine justices rejected them. Craig Caplan / @craigcaplan : SCOTUS upholds TikTok divest from China or ban bill ahead of Sunday's deadline: “Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikTok's data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.” Amir Efrati / @amir : few realize that TikTok's secret change to content moderation rules—including allowing claims that Trump won the 2020 election—is what's going to save the app [image] Adam Kovacevich / @adamkovac : TikTok Predictions: 1. No last ditch ByteDance effort to sell 2. No 90 day extension (requires effort by ByteDance, see #1; plus law prob doesn't let Trump do it) 3. Trump announces non-enforcement EO - but Google and Apple decide legal/fine risk too great to trust it 4. TT shuts Matt Stoller / @matthewstoller : This opinion is a rejection of an ever expanding corporate First Amendment. “Petitioners, for their part, have not identified any case in which this Court has treated a regulation of corporate control as a direct regulation of expressive activity or semi-expressive conduct.” Peter Kafka / @pkafka : Republicans are happy to talk about banning TikTok. Not so excited to talk about Trump unbanning TikTok. Via @PunchbowlNews https://punchbowl.news/... [image] Dan Frommer / @fromedome : Even among daily users of TikTok, fewer than half think no, the Chinese government is not using TikTok's content recommendation algorithm to make Americans feel more socially and politically divided. [image] Danny Kemp / @dannyctkemp : Dear Donald, TikTok is your problem. Cheers, Joe [image] Peter Kafka / @pkafka : All that said: If Trump did just ignore the ban or try to overturn it with an order, who would challenge him in court? Peter Kafka / @pkafka : The Court didn't take up the issue of whether Trump could overturn the law with a congressional order, as @RichLightShed argues. But it did note multiple times that the government's argument that ByteDance-owned TikTok could be a security threat is convincing. Peter Kafka / @pkafka : The law is clear that once the ban goes into Sunday, it can't be undone unless ByteDance sells off U.S. TikTok. https://www.businessinsider.com/ ... Dan Primack / @danprimack : Lot of people in the U.S. seem to assume that ByteDance=TikTok, but reality is that ByteDance has a lot of other assets. Including a TikTok clone of sorts in China. Losing TikTok would hurt ByteDance, but wouldn't kill it. Dan Primack / @danprimack : This is not how the law is written. It's just not. @appcensorship : 🚨 Banning TikTok sets a dangerous precedent for censorship. ❌ It mirrors tactics of authoritarian regimes. ❌ It fragments the global internet. ❌ It distracts from real tech reforms like privacy laws. Censorship isn't the answer. Protect digital rights. #NoTikTokBan Dan Primack / @danprimack : The law on TikTok is very clear. Including a mandate to enforce. If Trump doesn't enforce, then it raises some pretty big constitutional questions (true also of Biden, but only for 12 hours). https://www.axios.com/... Dan Primack / @danprimack : Senate staffer to me this morning: “ByteDance now knows we're serious about banning it.” I almost spit out my coffee. Mike Sacks / @mikesacksesq : At least Congress and SCOTUS didn't buy into what was a super gross (like, SUPER gross) influence campaign Kevin Bankston / @kevinbankston : The fact we're getting this garbage 1st am decision deferring to vague natsec fears just as the great TikTok FlipFlop has both parties backing away from the need for a ban shows just how conclusively this court failed in its stated goal in the intro not to “embarrass the future.” @committeeonccp : BREAKING: Supreme Court has upheld the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act “This... is not a ban on TikTok. It is a pathway to a safer, better TikTok. This is the first step - now it is time to make the deal of the century.” - @RepMoolenaar [video] Daniel Hanley / @danielahanley : Regardless of what one thinks of the actual substance of the ban, for purposes of Congressional power to regulate corporations, this SCOTUS decision is going to be an important opinion for the antimonopoly movement. [image] Adam Kovacevich / @adamkovac : What jumped out at me from the SCOTUS ruling: “FOREIGN ADVERSARY CONTROL”: “TikTok's scale and susceptibility to foreign adversary control, together with the sensitive data the platform collections, justify differential treatment to address the Government's national security [image] Mike Sacks / @mikesacksesq : Sotomayor writes separately to say the law certainly implicates the 1st Amendment (as opposed to just assuming it does), but agrees the ban is constitutional [image] Tom Cotton / @sentomcotton : ByteDance and its Chinese Communist masters had nine months to sell TikTok before the Sunday deadline. The very fact that Communist China refuses to permit its sale reveals exactly what TikTok is: a communist spy app. The Supreme Court correctly rejected TikTok's lies and Adrian Weckler / @adrianweckler : Yep, Sunday's TikTok ban upheld by US Supreme Court. Still doesn't mean it will actually happen for sure. As it stands, Apple and Google due to delete TikTok from (US) app stores. But if they're given assurance that Trump won't prosecute, they may not https://www.independent.ie/... Mike Sacks / @mikesacksesq : The unsigned opinion applies intermediate scrutiny to say the ban doesn't violate the 1st Amendment [image] Geoffrey A. Fowler / @geoffreyfowler : Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban set to start on Sunday. Trump has promised to save TikTok — now the question is how? https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ... Alexandra S. Levine / @ali_lev : BREAKING ON TIKTOK: The Supreme Court has ruled to UPHOLD the TikTok divest-or-ban law, clearing the way for a potential nationwide shutdown on Sunday. Several moving parts that could change how this shakes out. News coming from @GregStohr @KurtWagner8 @business and me Will Guyatt / @willguyatt : Does Trump refuse to ban it? Does the law get ignored? What a bloody mess. I'm unpacking this on radio and tv over next few hours @richlightshed : #SCOTUS upholds TikTok ban https://www.supremecourt.gov/ ... M.G. Siegler / @mgsiegler : The Tok Tiks Midnight! LinkedIn: Emil Protalinski : TikTok is not going away on January 19. — Sure, SCOTUS didn't save TikTok. — In fact, the US Supreme Court unanimously upheld the TikTok divest-or-ban law … Jon Adams : It's still not clear how this will play out but, to me, the outright unwillingness of ByteDance to consider a sale suggests that the geopolitical angle is very real and Congress was right to act. … Mark Lemley : SCOTUS unanimously upholds TikTok ban, applying intermediate scrutiny on the theory that the law is content-neutral; no discussion of the speech interests … Forums: r/China : Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok if it's not sold by its Chinese parent company r/technology : Supreme Court rules to uphold TikTok ban r/Music : Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok if it's not sold by its Chinese parent company r/RedditIPO : Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, threatening app's existence in the U.S. : NPR r/technology : SCOTUS upholds TikTok ban r/AntiTrumpAlliance : Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok if it's not sold by its Chinese parent company r/democrats : Supreme Court rules to uphold TikTok ban, setting the stage for U.S. users to lose access Sunday r/NewsOfTheStupid : Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok if it's not sold by its Chinese parent company r/NPR : Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban, threatening app's existence in the U.S. r/Destiny : Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok if it's not sold by its Chinese parent company r/popculturechat : The Supreme Court Unanimously Rules That TikTok Will Be Banned Unless Sold r/politics : Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok if it's not sold by its Chinese parent company r/news : Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok if it's not sold by its Chinese parent company r/law : Supreme Court holds unanimously that TikTok ban is constitutional r/moderatepolitics : Per Curiam: TikTok Inc. v. Garland r/neoliberal : TikTok Inc. v. Garland (24-656) (Per Curiam) | The challenged provisions of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, 138 Stat. … r/scotus : Supreme Court holds unanimously that TikTok's ban is constitutional See also Mediagazer