• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, August 16, 2024

A new law that could result in a nationwide ban on TikTok by next April represents “an unprecedented intrusion on protected speech,” the company argues in papers filed Thursday with a federal appellate court in Washington, D.C.

The company is urging the court to block the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which will prohibit web hosting services and app marketplaces from distributing TikTok unless its owner, the China-based ByteDance, divests the app by next April.

TikTok, which recently sued to block the law, calls the statute “the most sweeping speech restriction in this country’s history,” adding that it “singles out and shutters a speech platform used by 170 million Americans.”

The Department of Justice recently defended the law, arguing in heavily redacted court papers that the measure is justified by concerns that the Chinese government will obtain data about Americans through the app, and will use it to spread propaganda.

TikTok counters in its new papers that those expressed concerns don't warrant a ban for several reasons, including that data about U.S. users is stored in the United States.

“The government’s argument is based on clear factual errors about the data TikTok collects,” the company writes, adding that the current version of the app doesn't collect precise geolocation data from U.S. users, and doesn't collect information from their contact lists by default.

“U.S. users’ sensitive personal data is protected from Chinese access: it is located in the United States, under strict protections,” TikTok asserts.

The company adds that the government can't constitutionally censor material based on viewpoint.

“The government’s asserted interest in regulating the content Americans view is illegitimate -- Congress may not silence a U.S. company’s speech because it wants to block content that Congress deems 'propaganda,'” TikTok writes.