The recent TikTok ban in the United States is disrupting the social media community, leaving millions of users and content creators in limbo. After the Supreme Court upheld the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, legal experts have been discussing the implications of the ban. Orlando criminal defense lawyer and television legal analyst Jose Rivas says it’s not a done deal yet, depending on what the President does.
“Trump will likely sign an executive order to temporarily delay the enforcement of the federal law banning TikTok, to give more time for negotiations and potential deals that would bring the company into compliance with the law,” Rivas said. “He may be able to implement or amend some kind of restrictions to fix the problem or conflict that exists under this law.”
“The law is meant to address growing concerns about foreign influence in our digital spaces,” Rivas said. “However, it also raises some serious issues about free speech and governmental regulation of our social media platforms.”
The Road to the TikTok Ban
There have been concerns over TikTok’s reach and influence in the United States for years. Well over 125 million Americans use the app. As it continued to sign up record numbers of users, federal officials began to voice concerns over national security issues. The company is owned by the Chinese firm ByteDance, which answers to the Chinese Communist Party and must The company must comply with Chinese national intelligence and cybersecurity laws, which mandate cooperation with the state intelligence services.
That’s why American national security officials aren’t comfortable with the amount of information the company collects about US citizens, and there are concerns about the platform’s ability to conduct disinformation campaigns and influence American politics and policy.
What Security Experts Say About TikTok Ban
Some security experts say if Congress banned TikTok for security reasons, their efforts were misplaced. According to the Digital Forensic Research Lab, the Chinese Communist Party has been conducting propaganda influence operations in America on a far more massive scale on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) than anything on TikTok.
Experts contend that banning TikTok wouldn’t significantly hamper China’s ability to gather sensitive data on Americans. Nor would it stop them from conducting influence and disinformation campaigns. They also point out whatever data the Chinese can gather from TikTok users is nothing compared to what they are already getting through hacking or just buying the data on the open market through 3rd party data brokers.
Trump’s Options to Lift the TikTok Ban
TikTok’s legal team sued to overturn the law and mounted a vigorous defense, citing the First Amendment among other issues. But the Supreme Court upheld the law, rejecting TikTok’s appeal. But even though the ban is the law of the land, the administration has options to keep the platform operating in America. The first step will be an executive order to delay when the law takes effect. That will give time perhaps for ByteDance to sell a controlling interest in the app to an American company, which would satisfy requirements of the new law.
Or the president can just tell the Justice Department to not enforce the law. That way, app store and internet service providers would feel free to keep offering TikTok without fear of being prosecuted, despite breaking the law. A longer-term approach would involve working with Congress to repeal or modify the new law in a way that can keep the application going.
Orlando Criminal Defense Attorney Jose Rivas is a veteran bilingual TV Legal Analyst who has appeared on Univision, Fox News, Telemundo, and many other news outlets.