TikTok today took its battle against the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to block a law that would go into effect on Jan. 19, the day before Inauguration Day.
Launched in the U.S. in 2018, TikTok is used by 170 million American users.
The court filing. TikTok said the law violates the First Amendment:
“The Act will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration. This, in turn, will silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern.”
Read the full filing here.
Why we care. TikTok has become a marketing channel of significance for a wide range of brands. It’s also a huge marketplace for the influencers whose self-generated content can have a greater impact than many of the most sophisticated brand campaigns.
Bottom line. Whatever one feels about the role of Chinese owner ByteDance and its risks to data privacy, shutting the platform down is a big deal. President-elect Trump today said he has a “warm spot” in his heart for TikTok. Feel free to place your bets on where the Supreme Court will come out on this.
Dig deeper. TikTok ban faces uncertain future under Trump’s return
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About the author
Kim Davis is the Editorial Director of MarTech Today. Born in London, but a New Yorker for over two decades, Kim started covering enterprise software ten years ago. His experience encompasses SaaS for the enterprise, digital- ad data-driven urban planning, and applications of SaaS, digital technology, and data in the marketing space.
He first wrote about marketing technology as editor of Haymarket’s The Hub, a dedicated marketing tech website, which subsequently became a channel on the established direct marketing brand DMN. Kim joined DMN proper in 2016, as a senior editor, becoming Executive Editor, then Editor-in-Chief a position he held until January 2020.
Prior to working in tech journalism, Kim was Associate Editor at a New York Times hyper-local news site, The Local: East Village, and has previously worked as an editor of an academic publication, and as a music journalist. He has written hundreds of New York restaurant reviews for a personal blog, and has been an occasional guest contributor to Eater.