At the Supreme Court today, the justices gathered to tackle a question that might define the digital age: should TikTok, the app responsible for everything from viral dance trends to questionable cooking hacks, be banished from American phones? A courtroom showdown between the First Amendment and the looming specter of Chinese espionage was always going to be messy. But this? This is peak American spectacle.
On one side, the Biden administration, clutching the national security playbook, warns that TikTok isn’t just a hub for teenage choreography—it’s a Trojan horse for the Chinese Communist Party. According to the government, TikTok is essentially a data vacuum, hoovering up Americans' information and leaving it exposed to manipulation. "China can gather data on Americans or manipulate the content on TikTok to shape US opinion," the administration warns. Because if anyone is going to manipulate public opinion around here, it sure as hell better be Facebook or CNN.
Leading the charge is Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who laid it out plainly: as long as TikTok is under the umbrella of ByteDance, a company based in China, national security is on thin ice.
On the other side, TikTok and a coalition of creators are clutching their smartphones and waving the First Amendment like a protest sign. This, they argue, is censorship dressed up as patriotism. Banning TikTok wouldn’t only stop the latest dance craze—it would silence millions. Some of the app’s 170 million American users say the Court has never faced a free speech case with stakes this high. And, to be fair, it’s hard to think of a previous First Amendment battle where the frontline warriors were influencers and their ring lights.
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