To Ban TikTok, Supreme Court Would Rank “National Security” Before First Amendment

The Supreme Court will hear a case that would effectively ban TikTok in the U.S. as of January 19 .

The case pits free speech against the specter of foreign threats against the First Amendment .

The government argues that the app's ownership structure makes it subject to the control of the People’s Republic of China .

The D.C. Circuit found that the TikTok ban didn’t violate the First Amendment , even under the highest level of constitutional scrutiny.

The government has acknowledged that TikTok ’s potential geopolitical risks to the U.S. are, at least for now, hypothetical.

There is no evidence in the public record that the company has coordinated with the Chinese government in either way.