TikTok responded on Thursday to U.S. government claims that the social media platform is not protected by the First Amendment, likening itself to American media outlets owned by foreign entities. The Justice Department had argued that TikTok, owned by China-based ByteDance, and its U.S. arms were not entitled to First Amendment protections due to their foreign ownership.
TikTok's legal team has emphasized the importance of the First Amendment in their challenge against the federal law mandating ByteDance to sell TikTok or face a ban. They argued that TikTok's U.S. arm should not lose its constitutional rights simply because of foreign ownership, drawing parallels to news organizations like Politico and Business Insider, which are owned by foreign entities.
