Forcing TikTok to shut down its American operations over unspecified national security concerns would represent a violation of the First Amendment, according to six legal scholars surveyed by NPR.
TikTok last week filed a legal challenge against the Biden administration over a law that would ban the video app unless it fully divests from its China-based parent company, ByteDance, within 12 months.
Lawmakers and the White House have justified the crackdown on TikTok by claiming the app’s link to Beijing makes it a national security threat. But supporters of a ban have not offered direct evidence of the Chinese government ever attempting to obtain data from the company, nor any proof that authorities there have ever influenced content on the platform used by 170 million Americans.
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