TikTok On Trial: Could Other Chinese Companies Soon Face US Bans?
The social media platform is pointing fingers at other popular sites.
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Subscribe for free to get more stories like this directly to your inboxAmerican politicians and bureaucrats have paid a lot of attention to TikTok in recent years, primarily due to concerns about how and why the Chinese-owned social media app is collecting so much personal information from users.
In response, lawmakers approved a law mandating that TikTok’s owner sell the platform to a U.S. buyer or receive a nationwide ban.
TikTok fights back
Shortly after the law was signed into effect by President Joe Biden earlier this year, TikTok announced it would be suing the U.S. government. During one recent appeals court appearance, attorneys for the social media app argued that the law represents an infringement of the company’s First Amendment rights.
Taking the position further, attorney Andrew Pincus asserted that other Chinese-owned companies collect similar, if not more personal, data from users but are shielded from penalties under the same law being used to target TikTok.
“There are very significant ecommerce sites based in China and other places that collect much more data than TikTok does,” he said. “Very sensitive data.”
While attorneys didn’t mention any of the companies by name in court, reports have concluded that the defense team is referencing Temu and Shein.
Will the strategy work?
There is a passage in the law that exempts companies “whose primary purpose is to allow users to post product reviews, business reviews, or travel information and reviews.”
TikTok’s lawyers are using that clause as the crux of their case, insisting that it proves lawmakers are concerned with protecting speech regarding some topics more than others.
Some legal scholars think the legal team is on to something, but Judge Douglas Ginsburg didn’t seem receptive during the recent hearing.
“It’s a rather blinkered view that the statute just singles out one company,” he said.
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