Video-sharing app TikTok and a group of its users faced a skeptical federal appeals court during oral arguments Monday in a bid to overturn a law that would mandate the company’s U.S. subsidiary be sold or face a ban, as a panel of judges focused on the company’s China-based ownership.
Attorneys for the social media giant and content creators urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to find that the law would infringe on the free speech rights of the platform and its users. But the three judges on the panel spent much of Monday’s two-hour arguments focused on Congress’ designation of China as an “adversary” of the United States and the company’s ties to its China-based parent company, ByteDance.
All three judges raised concerns about the risks of limiting congressional ability to regulate what a foreign adversary or enemy in war could own in the United States. Judge Neomi Rao said that, even if it did impact what TikTok or its users could say online, the law “is also regulating foreign ownership, which is a separate, non-expressive interest of the federal government.”
