TikTok warns it will go black in the US
Written by Black Hot Fire Network on May 20, 2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS) – Social media giant TikTok warned it’s going to go dark in the United States 8 months from May 19, if a new law isn’t overturned. It required TikTok to be sold by its China-based owner or face a ban in America. The battle has shifted with 8 TikTok influencers taking their owner government to court.
Talia Cadet is one TikTok influencer who scores a huge audience with her short videos. She posts about music, books and lifestyle suggestions. She’d lose her livelihood if she loses TikTok, according to her.
“TikTok is one of one in terms of social media. It is such an important storytelling platform. I know for myself as a user, I’ve gotten so much value out of TikTok,” said Cadet.
Cadet is one of eight TikTok influencers nationwide who have sued the US Attorney General to block the enactment of a law passed and signed last month that required TikTok to be sold by China-based ByteDancec by January. They claim their First Amendment rights are being violated.
Congress, with huge bipartisan margins, passed the law arguing China could use its tethers to TikTok to collect private data from Americans or push propaganda.
It would be impossible to be sold by January, so TikTok’s fate very much resides in the Washington D.C. Court of Appeals, according to TikTok. But it might not be there for long. Law professors believe the case might be on a relatively fast track to the US Supreme Court.
TikTok has filed its own suit in the same court seeking to stop the law. This isn’t a surprise for members of Congress who passed the law.
“My guess is they’ll pull out all the stops. So I think it’d be a lot of litigation,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, (R) Missouri.
For TikTok’s 170 million users, the app’s fate could be in the hands of lawyers representing Cadet. They’re arguing TikTok shouldn’t be “swiped away.”
