WASHINGTON—The U.S. Supreme Court today heard argument in a case challenging the federal TikTok ban, which is scheduled to go into effect on January 19. The Institute, along with Free Press and PEN America, filed an amicus brief in the case late last month, arguing that the ban unjustifiably restricts Americans from accessing ideas, information, and media from abroad in violation of the First Amendment. 

The following can be attributed to Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute:

“As today’s argument made clear, this case is about much more than TikTok. It’s about whether the First Amendment permits the government to ‘protect’ Americans from foreign speech that the government views as dangerous by restricting them from accessing it. How the Court answers that question will affect TikTok, of course, but it will have much broader implications as well. If the Court upholds the ban, it will be giving the government sweeping new power to distort and manipulate discourse in the United States by restricting Americans’ access to foreign ideas and media.”

The Institute’s amicus brief urged the Court to scrutinize the ban especially closely, because it is viewpoint-motivated; “forecloses an entire medium of expression online”; and “recalls practices that have long been associated with the world’s most repressive regimes.” Furthermore, it noted that the government has no legitimate interest in banning Americans from accessing foreign speech, even if that speech reflects foreign manipulation, and that while the government has a legitimate interest in protecting Americans from covert propaganda and safeguarding their personal data, these interests can be achieved through less restrictive means. 

Read the amicus brief here.

Read more about the case here.

Lawyers on the case include Jameel Jaffer, Alex Abdo, and Xiangnong Wang from the Knight Institute.

For more information, contact: Adriana Lamirande, [email protected].