TikTok heads to court over US law that could lead to a ban on the popular platform

The U.S. government and TikTok will go head-to-head in federal court early today (Macau time) as oral arguments begin in a consequential legal case that will determine if – or how — a popular social media platform used by nearly half of all Americans will continue to operate in the country.

Attorneys for the two sides will appear before a panel of judges at the federal appeals court in Washington. TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, are challenging a U.S. law that requires them to break ties or face a ban in the U.S. by mid-January. The legal battle is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, was a culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China. But TikTok argues the law runs afoul of the First Amendment while other opponents claim it mirrors crackdowns sometimes seen in authoritarian countries abroad.

In court documents submitted over the summer, the Justice Department emphasized the government’s two primary concerns. First, TikTok collects vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. Second, the U.S. says the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.

TikTok has repeatedly said it does not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government and that concerns the government has raised have never been substantiated. In court documents, attorneys for both TikTok and its parent company have argued that members of Congress sought to punish the platform based on propaganda they perceived to be on TikTok. The companies also claimed divestment is not possible and that the app would have to shut down by Jan. 19 if the courts don’t step in to block the law.

“Even if divestiture were feasible, TikTok in the United States would still be reduced to a shell of its former self, stripped of the innovative and expressive technology that tailors content to each user,” the companies said in a legal brief filed in June. “It would also become an island, preventing Americans from exchanging views with the global TikTok community.”

Opponents of the law stress a ban would also cause disruptions in the world of marketing, retail and in the lives of many different content creators, some of whom also sued the government in May. TikTok is covering the legal costs for that lawsuit, which the court has consolidated with the company’s complaint and another filed on behalf of conservative creators who work with a nonprofit called BASED Politics Inc.

Though the government’s primary reasoning for the law is public, significant portions of its court filings include classified information that has been redacted and hidden from public view. The companies have asked the court to reject the secret filings or appoint a district judge who can ferret through the material, which the government has opposed because it will cause a delay in the case. If admitted into the court, legal experts say those secret filings could make it nearly impossible to know some of the factors that could play a part in the eventual ruling. HALELUYA HADERO, MDT/AP