Lawyers for TikTok and its parent company ByteDance are facing down the U.S. Justice Department in a Washington DC courtroom. But what’s the court case all about – and what happens next?
From the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, CGTN’s John Terrett answers your questions.
From the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, CGTN’s John Terrett answers your questions.
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00:00The truth of the matter is that ByteDance and TikTok have a point.
00:03The ban on TikTok, signed into law in April by President Biden,
00:06and due to come into effect in early 2025, is technically an infringement of the U.S. Constitution,
00:13in particular the First Amendment, the right to free speech.
00:16But the trouble is, in this country, national security issues override almost everything else.
00:21And so it was that ByteDance and TikTok lawyers, together with a handful of U.S.-based TikTok
00:26creators, appeared at the Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., to try and get the ban stopped.
00:31They've asked for a decision by December so that, if needs be,
00:35the case can go to the U.S. Supreme Court, also in Washington, D.C.
00:39In the meantime, there are plenty of Wall Street-based entrepreneurs
00:44who are eyeing TikTok rather hungrily.
00:46They'd like to buy it and get access to its 170 million users around the United States alone.
00:52ByteDance in Beijing says we're not hanging out the for sale sign any time soon.