ACLU Slams Supreme Court TikTok Ruling

The Supreme Court issued a major blow to freedom of expression online today by refusing to block legislation that will effectively ban TikTok in the United States beginning this Sunday, January 19. The decision will impact more than 170 million Americans who use the social media platform and will endanger the constitutional rights of every American to speak and receive information online.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling is incredibly disappointing, allowing the government to shut down an entire platform and the free speech rights of so many based on fear-mongering and speculation,” said Patrick Toomey, deputy director of ACLU’s National Security Project. “By refusing to block this ban, the Supreme Court is giving the executive branch unprecedented power to silence speech it doesn’t like, increasing the danger that sweeping invocations of ‘national security’ will trump our constitutional rights.”

Under the First Amendment, the government must meet an extraordinarily high bar to ban an entire communications platform. It must show that the ban is the only way to prevent serious, imminent harm to national security, and that the ban limits no more speech than necessary to accomplish that purpose. As the ACLU noted in its amicus in support of TikTok, the government has not come close to meeting that standard.

Absent last-minute action by Congress or the president, starting January 19, TikTok is likely to disappear from app stores in the U.S. and existing U.S. users will probably lose the ability to update the app on their devices, at the very minimum. However, President Biden or President-elect Donald Trump could grant TikTok an extension under the law or direct the Department of Justice not to enforce the ban. This week, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) also introduced a bill that would give Bytedance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, more time to sell the app.

“Taking away Americans’ free speech rights does not make us safer; it endangers our democracy,” said Jenna Leventoff, senior policy counsel at ACLU. “The next administration must immediately work with Congress to fix or repeal this flawed legislation. No one should be stripped of their ability to express themselves, especially on a platform that brings together such an immense, vibrant collection of voices from around the world.”