TikTok ban reaches SCOTUS

Alan Cai

January 10, 2025

Embattled short film company TikTok was thrown a potential lifeline today after receiving a hearing before the Supreme Court. TikTok is asking for a delay on the law signed by President Biden last April, which would force Chinese parent company ByteDance to either sell TikTok to an American company or face a ban. The law is set to take effect on January 19th, one day before the inauguration of incoming US President Donald Trump. Despite Trump’s anti-TikTok position during his first term in office — having considered a similar ban, the former real estate mogul has since reversed his position and become pro-TikTok, going as far as to promise that he would “save” the platform upon being sworn in. He has cited various reasons for his position shift, including increasing competition for Mark Zuckerberg’s FaceBook and Instagram and his alleged popularity on the platform. A SCOTUS-ordered delay on the ban could potentially be monumental because if the law did not take effect by the time Trump assumed office, he might be able to use various methods to legalize the platform, which is likely subject to legal challenges. Although the SCOTUS is not expected to comply with TikTok’s appeal, the ban is worrying and should not commence for many reasons.

The main concern cited for TikTok is that it poses a national security concern. However, evidence to prove this assertion is spotty at best, and definitive evidence of information on American users being handed to the Chinese government has yet to be uncovered for the masses. Perhaps Congressional leaders may have access to information the public does not, but such a revelation would open another can of worms of information the government may be hiding. Undoubtedly, the status of TikTok’s ownership under a Chinese company is less than ideal, but we must remember that these users voluntarily chose to use the platform and should not be forced by our nation’s elected representatives to cease. Additionally, if data breaches were the real concern, perhaps Congress should look to ban platforms such as Facebook which has, throughout its history, faced various large-scale data breaches that jeopardized the security of hundreds of millions of users.

Congress is also concerned that China may use TikTok to influence US elections in the future. However, foreign influence on US elections is not unique to TikTok and occurs far more often on other platforms; most notably Facebook was the target of a Russian election interference campaign during the 2016 election cycle. Additionally, given that TikTok’s primary audience consists of younger Americans — many of whom have yet to reach voting age, it is inconceivable why the Chinese government would find efforts to sway US elections using TikTok more effective than doing so on X, for example. 

The purpose of this article is not to disparage Facebook or TikTok’s other competitors; it’s to point out that the animosity toward the addictive platform appears to be entirely rooted in its Chinese ownership and without any verifiable concerns. Even though I myself am no fan of TikTok, contempt for a foreign adversary should be no grounds for denying Americans the right to express themselves. If TikTok was looking for a new owner, the Brutus Journal would be happy to acquire it.