• by Wendy Davis , July 29, 2024

A new law that could result in a ban on TikTok is justified by national security concerns -- namely, fears that the Chinese government will obtain data about Americans through the app, and will use it to spread propaganda, the Department of Justice argues in heavily redacted court papers.

“Given TikTok’s broad reach within the United States, the capacity for China to use TikTok’s features to achieve its overarching objective to undermine American interests creates a national-security threat of immense depth and scale,” the Attorney General's office writes in a brief filed late last week with the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals.

Large portions of the administration's brief have been blacked out -- presumably because the information is classified -- making it impossible to determine the full basis for the government's argument.

The Justice Department's new papers come in response to TikTok's challenge to the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which prohibits web hosting services and app marketplaces from distributing TikTok unless its owner, the China-based ByteDance, divests the app by next April.

TikTok -- which is used by an estimated 170 million Americans -- is seeking a court order declaring the law unconstitutional, and an injunction blocking enforcement. The company argues that lawmakers' expressed concerns -- that the app could compromise users' privacy and allow China to manipulate public opinion -- don't warrant a ban.

“The government cannot legitimately restrict speech by labeling it foreign propaganda,” TikTok wrote in its argument to the appellate court, adding that concerns over users' data were speculative.

The government counters in its new papers that the law's restrictions are “reasonable,” given concerns expressed to Congress by intelligence officials.

“The legislation followed more than a dozen classified and unclassified sessions over the previous three years -- including extensive classified briefings from the intelligence community -- to consider the threats posed by China in general and TikTok in particular,” the government writes. “These national-security concerns amply justify the act.”

Civil liberties watchdogs including the Center for Democracy & Technology support TikTok's challenge to the law, arguing that it violates the First Amendment for numerous reasons, including that it singles out a particular medium.

On Monday, the Center for Democracy & Technology criticized the Justice Department's failure to fully disclose the rationale for the new law.

“Basically the government is saying, we want to close down a communications channel used by almost half of the country, and we're not going to say the basis for closing it down. We're going to keep that a secret,” Greg Nojeim, senior counsel and director of the Center for Democracy & Technology's security and surveillance project, tells Media Daily News.

“That ought to concern every American,” he adds.

Earlier this year, Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) urged the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information about TikTok and its ties to the Chinese government, arguing that the move would help TikTok users understand potential security threats posed by the app.

"The American people deserve & need to know the chilling truth about TikTok,” Blumenthal added in a post on X, formerly Twitter.