The Liberty Justice Center filed an emergency petition alongside some TikTok creators, asking the court to halt the Jan. 19 ban until the U.S. Supreme Court gives its final ruling on the legal challenge.
The emergency petition argues that the act violates the First Amendment because it bans all speech on TikTok, even though all, or nearly all, of that speech is constitutionally protected. In particular, the ban would silence BASED Politics Inc., a nonprofit that uses social media platforms, including TikTok, to publish educational content on free markets and individual rights, the petition claims.
“The TikTok ban would shut down the core political speech of millions of Americans. We look forward to taking this First Amendment fight to the Supreme Court,” said Jacob Huebert, president of the Liberty Justice Center.
The Liberty Justice Center states the ban would prevent BASED Politics from “engaging in core political speech and from communicating with its audience about President Trump’s actions upon taking office, including the implementation of tariffs, the release of hostages in the Middle East, cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency, and the potential abolition of the Department of Education.”
In April, President Joe Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act into law after both Republican and Democratic members of Congress voiced their concerns, which are related to TikTok’s alleged connections to the Chinese government, as the reason to ban the platform in the United States.
The Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit challenging the ban in June.
The United States Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., rejected the argument that the ban is unconstitutional and violates the First Amendment rights of the 170 million Americans who use the social media platform.
ByteDance must sell TikTok by Jan. 19. The law will require app store companies and internet providers to stop supporting the app, effectively banning it.
Senior fellow Jeff Kosseff of The Future of Free Speech, a nonpartisan think tank, said TikTok’s operations should remain uninterrupted while the Supreme Court assesses the decision, calling the ban dangerous and misguided.
“The outcome of this case could determine how much control the government has over online speech for decades to come,” Kosseff said.
The executive director of the American Parents Coalition, Alleigh Marré, argued in favor of the ban, stating that the court’s ruling encourages parents who want to ensure their kids are protected from the Chinese-owned TikTok.
“TikTok’s algorithm is every parent’s worst nightmare,” Marré said. “We’ve seen the app exploit children by promoting content glorifying suicide, eating disorders, and other harmful trends. We need to stop the emotional and psychological harm being inflicted on our kids through this harmful app.”
Marré is a vocal supporter of the Kids Online Safety Act, a bill that aims to protect children from the harms of social media, gaming sites and other online platforms.
American Parents Coalition is a parental rights nonprofit responsible for TikTok is Poison, which provides examples of it says are the effects TikTok on minors.
