What’s the Future of TikTok if U.S. Ban Goes Through? Here's What the Experts are Saying
April 22, 2024 – Media MentionIGN quoted partner Doug Mirell and counsel Peter Jackson on the legal implications and effects of the pending TikTok ban.
Excerpts:
Douglas E. Mirell, a partner in Greenberg Glusker’s Litigation Group, argues that banning TikTok would violate the First Amendment. IGN quoted Mirell saying an outright ban would “likely be deemed a prior restraint upon speech and upon the press that would be presumptively unconstitutional under the First Amendment,” citing landmark Supreme Court precedents like NYT v. United States and Near v. Minnesota. Congress needs to be mindful when proposing new laws that would “deprive individuals or entities of the right to speak,” Mirell told IGN.
Peter K. Jackson, a counsel in the firm’s Intellectual Property Group, argued the ban may not prevent the flow of TikTok’s U.S. user data to China. “The legislation just says the business operating TikTok in the U.S. can’t be ultimately owned or controlled by a ByteDance entity or any company ‘controlled’ by a foreign adversary,” Jackson explained. While “nothing in the legislation would prevent a new U.S. operator of TikTok from transferring U.S. user data to ByteDance or China,” he said, a potential buyer or licensee “should be wary of an arrangement that technically satisfies what the pending legislation requires but fails to limit the processing of U.S. user data in China or by ByteDance.”