Will the age of TikTok come to an end?
With the start of the new year, 2025 brings a clash between freedom of speech and national security.
ByteDance, a China based company and TikTok’s parent company, has been given until Sunday to sell TikTok or to be completely banned in the U.S. according to the law signed by United States President Joe Biden in April 2024.
The Supreme Court held a hearing to discuss the future of TikTok in the United States on Jan. 10.
ByteDance, TikTok and its users argued that the law to ban the social media platform violates the First Amendment right, while Congress believes the app can be seen as a threat to national security, according to the hearing.
Noel Francisco, attorney for TikTok and ByteDance, said during the hearing TikTok, being a U.S. company, should be protected by the First Amendment.
“The reason is that here, where it’s conceded, you actually have a bonafide U.S. company,” Francisco said. “It is not simply a Chinese cutout that is the Chinese government speaking itself.”
Brett Kavanaugh, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, said Congress and the president were concerned about the generation of young American’s information being stolen and leaked in the future.
“Is that not a realistic assessment of the Congress and the president of the risks here,” Kavanaugh said during the hearing.
Andrew Smith, UTRGV assistant professor of political science, said the fear of data collection through TikTok has been around for years.
“The biggest thing that people have latched on to is the fact that ByteDance, the parent company, is based in China,” Smith said. “… Chinese state law requires the handing over of data whenever the communist party that runs the country requests it.”
Francisco said to the Supreme Court the law made did not look for other solutions to the problem at hand.
“[Congress] has to at least consider the consequences of shutting down a speech platform used by a 170 million Americans against the benefits of an alternative, like simply saying that TikTok’s employees, your essentially going to get massive fines, potentially jail sentences, if you share any of that sensitive user data with anybody,” he said.
Francisco said if TikTok and ByteDance lose the case by Jan. 19, then TikTok will “go dark.”
“Unless there is a divestiture,” he said. “Unless [President-elect] Trump exercises his authority to extend it but he can’t do that on Jan. 19.”
Smith said TikTok, if used properly, can be a great source for information and to give public awareness.
“Generally, it also has been used in the past to, for example, coordinate ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests,” Smith said.
He said the concern that the government has over national security has its importance as well.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that, at least in narrow circumstances, the federal government’s concerns about privacy and national security can trump the free speech rights, especially considering the fact that TikTok is owned by a foreign corporation,” Smith said.
Walter Hermosillo, UTRGV engineer technology junior, said the case the Supreme Court is bringing about national security is not a valid argument.
“They keep insisting China’s just going to steal your data and stuff like that but it’s like come on,” Hermosillo said. “What are they going to steal? All the stuff that I see and watch,all the funny memes, what are they going to use that for?”
He said he hopes the Supreme Court makes a change in their decision to ban TikTok.
“I actually enjoy spending like an hour or so watching [TikTok],” he said. “Especially when it’s a stressful day and since school is gonna start.”
