On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court released its long-anticipated verdict on the TikTok case aimed to overturn Congress’s ultimatum legislation, and the communist Chinese government-tied Big Tech giant lost big, with all nine justices siding against the platform. Vice President of MRC Free Speech America Dan Scheider summed up the results in a post thread on X:
“Two huge victories in today's decision:
“1. The Court UPHELD the law that protects Americans from our enemy's Trojan Horse
“2. The Court REJECTED the DC Circuit's horrible, anti-free speech rationale that falsely proclaimed that TikTok is a ‘publisher’ rather than a ‘platform’”
As to the first point, Schneider is noting that the purpose of this law was never to censor speech, but rather to protect Americans from data collection and other privacy violations by TikTok owner, ByteDance, which answers directly to the Chinese Communist Party. As Fox News China expert Gordon Chang told MRC Free Speech America back in spring 2023: “The 2017 national intelligence law of China articles 7 and 14 require every Chinese entity to spy if demanded.” The bipartisan nature of the legislation, which the Court upheld last week, speaks to how obvious the concern is that arguably our greatest geopolitical foe is both extracting information from our citizens and also possibly pushing anti-American propaganda onto our kids.
The law, and the ruling, do not call for TikTok to be banned outright, but rather for it to be sold to a company that is not controlled by the communist Chinese government. Businessman Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary has been very publicly working to put together a set of buyers for TikTok, and there were even media reports that Trump-ally Elon Musk might buy the platform to add to his ownership of X. The timing of a sale, should it happen, is still very much up in the air, with President Donald Trump having promised to take action.
While president the first time, Trump took a dim view of TikTok, even going so far as to call for its banning, but in the wake of the 2024 election, in which the platform was an apparent boon to his electoral victory, he has committed to help strike a deal that can keep TikTok, tick-tocking.
Following the ruling over the weekend, then-President-elect Donald Trump posted, “SAVE TIKTOK!” on Truth Social and later “Truthed” his plan for the communist Chinese government-tied app in America.
“I will issue an executive order on Monday to extend the period of time before the law’s prohibitions take effect, so that we can make a deal to protect our national security,” wrote Trump. “The order will also confirm that there will be no liability for any company that helped keep TikTok from going dark before my order.
…
“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position in a joint venture,” he continued. “By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to say up. Without U.S. approval, there is no Tik Tok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars - maybe trillions.”
However the future of Tik Tok shakes out, the narrow nature of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday ensures that a lower court’s decision that TikTok was a “publisher,” not a “platform,” will not stand and be applied to other social media platforms. MRC VP Schneider concluded on X, “I thank G-d for Justices Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch who consistently stand for free speech rights.”
Thank God, indeed!
With a Trump administration that prides itself on the protection of free speech, the next four years appear promising for First Amendment liberty-lovers after years of efforts to erode them — especially online where much of our lives are spent. Here at the Media Research Center, we will continue to provide the research, strategy and data needed to win this vital fight for American freedoms
Conservatives are under attack! Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on hate speech and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
