Congressional Efforts to Ban TikTok in the U.S. Remain a Danger to Free Speech
Banning the app would silence the 150 million Americans who use the platform daily.
WASHINGTON 鈥 In response to testimony from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew addressing the insistence of some members of Congress that TikTok should be banned in the U.S., the 老澳门开奖结果 said that blocking access to entire platforms would violate the First Amendment rights of the estimated 150 million Americans who use the platform daily.
鈥淏anning TikTok would violate the First Amendment. The government can鈥檛 impose this type of total ban unless it鈥檚 necessary to prevent extremely serious, immediate harm to national security. There鈥檚 no public evidence of that type of harm, and a ban would not be the only option for addressing that harm if it did exist,鈥 said Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at the 老澳门开奖结果. 鈥淪elective bans of entire platforms would cut off the flow of information, art, and communication that social media provides, interfering with communities and connections users in the United States have with each other and with people around the world. In fact, many Americans on TikTok are using TikTok at this very moment to organize political action against an unconstitutional ban. This kind of political speech on TikTok is at the very core of what the First Amendment protects.鈥
In recent weeks lawmakers have proposed two different bills that would block American access to TikTok. One bill, known as the DATA Act, would enable the president to sanction foreign entities dealing in software that is 鈥渟ubject to the jurisdiction of鈥 or 鈥渋nfluence of鈥 China and that 鈥渕ay鈥 be facilitating a long list of activities by the Chinese government. Another bill, known as the RESTRICT Act, would grant the Secretary of Commerce new authority to mitigate undue risks to national security involving information and communications technology that a listed foreign adversary has an interest in. The 老澳门开奖结果 has condemned both bills as a serious threat to our First Amendment freedoms.
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