TikTok has argued that a proposed ban of its app in the US would infringe upon free speech rights in its first court hearing fighting the incoming sell-or-ban law.
The Bytedance-owned social media platform appeared before three judges at a Washington DC appeals court on 16 September.
It argued the ban would be a “radical departure from this country's tradition of championing an open internet”.
"This law imposes extraordinary speech prohibition based on indeterminate future risks," said TikTok and ByteDance's lawyer Andrew Pincus, as reported by Reuters.
The proposed ban came after US politicians expressed increasing concerns over the app’s alleged data privacy issues.
This is because Chinese companies are legally required to share data with the country’s government if requested to do so.
Pincus said that Bytedance was not owned by China, but court judges hit back and said the business was still subject to the country’s control.
The bill to ban the use of TikTok in America was approved by the US Senate in April 2024, with Bytedance having until 9 January 2025 to respond to the new law.
This would mean either selling the social media platform, estimated to be worth more than US $50bn, or face it being blocked in the country.
TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, said the House of Representatives vote in March was “disappointing”.
He warned that a potential ban would take “billions of dollars out of the pockets of creators and small businesses” and “put more than 300,000 American jobs at risk
Commenting on the US Senate’s ruling on 23 April, TikTok said the decision “would trample the free speech rights of 170 million Americans”.
TikTok has faced ongoing scrutiny around its data security, however.
TikTok was hit by a £12.7m fine by the UK’s data watchdog in April 2023 for allegedly failing to protect the privacy of children.
The US also filed a lawsuit against TikTok in August 2024 for ‘flagrantly violating’ the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
The complaint alleges that TikTok, Bytedance and its affiliates failed to comply with the COPPA requirement to notify and obtain parental consent before collecting and using personal information from children under 13.
Cosmetics Business has contacted TikTok for a comment.
