Verdict: ban on TikTok in the USA is approaching – Trump could intervene

Legal setback for TikTok in the USA. For the time being, the operator of the platform for short videos has not succeeded in overturning a US law that would have effectively banned the service in the United States from mid-January. With its unanimous ruling, the court of appeals responsible for the government district of Washington followed the arguments of the US Department of Justice, which sees the company as a threat to national security. TikTok is backed by the Chinese company ByteDance. Politicians from both major US parties feared that Chinese authorities could gain large-scale access to user data from the USA and misuse the application, which is particularly popular with young people, to exert political influence.

TikTok wanted to obtain a court injunction against the law coming into force. Its lawyers argued that the US government had failed to prove that TikTok posed a national security risk. They also argued that the legislative initiative violated the US Constitution. However, the Appeals Court for the District of Columbia (D.C.), which already had jurisdiction in the first instance under the provisions of the law, did not see any violation of the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech. The law also did not violate the principle of equal treatment guaranteed in the Fifth Amendment. Despite the ban, US citizens could in principle continue to "read and share as much PRC propaganda (or other content) as they wish", the judges explained. The law was rightly directed against the ability of the rival power to "secretly manipulate" content.

Trump's zigzag course

TikTok intends to appeal the ruling, which would be a case for the US Supreme Court. It is assumed that the Supreme Court will review the decision and protect the right to freedom of expression for the 170 million TikTok users in the US, a spokesperson said. The law was designed and enforced on the basis of "inaccurate, erroneous and hypothetical information, which would lead to outright censorship of the American people". US civil rights organizations such as the ACLU and the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) also expressed concern that a ban would blatantly violate the rights of millions of US citizens. They too are counting on the next stage of the review to correct this injustice.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland, on the other hand, spoke of an important step in preventing the Chinese government from "weaponizing TikTok". According to the law, ByteDance must sell – TikTok's US assets by January 19, – one day before the end of the current US President Joseph Biden's term of office. Otherwise, the application will be banned from the app stores and thus effectively prohibited. ByteDance considers the required sale to be technically, economically and legally unfeasible. For example, the Chinese government has already banned the export of the recommendation algorithm, TikTok's crown jewel. Donald Trump tried in vain to ban TikTok during his first term of office in 2020. He has since apparently changed his mind: Most recently, the former and future US president stated that he would not allow the service to be banned. According to reports, Trump advisor and X owner Elon Musk is campaigning for TikTok.

(nie)