Summary
The Justice Department urged the Supreme Court to reject Donald Trump’s request to delay a law banning TikTok or forcing its sale by Jan. 19, 2025.
TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, claims the ban violates First Amendment rights, but the DOJ argued the law targets foreign ownership, not free speech, and passes constitutional scrutiny.
Trump, despite opposing a ban publicly, asked the Court to extend the deadline to seek a political resolution.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Jan. 10, with the ban set to take effect before Trump’s inauguration.
Gotta love the down votes people give for pointing out that it doesn’t matter whether it’s the US government, a foreign government, or even just the company having an agenda, someone has control over the algorithm and thus what people see.
They seem to want to believe that ignoring the idea that a foreign government can control what we see on social media is somehow inherently better, and that it isn’t a legitimate national security threat.
Does that mean it needs to be banned? That’s debatable. But it is delusional to insist that it’s not a national security issue to have a foreign government in control of the social media nearly 50% of the population interacts with (170m monthly US users in Jan 2024).