US TikTok ban: India's stance may feature in American courts, says FCC chief

TikTok’s official account on microblogging site X has stated that a potential ban on its app in the US would "trample the free speech" of millions of Americans.

India’s swift action against shortform video hosting service TikTok could be a feature that plays out in American courts as the ByteDance-owned firm is likely to challenge the US move to ban its video-hosting service, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) commissioner Brendan Carr told The Economic Times.

US President Joe Biden on April 24 signed into law a bill that bans TikTok in the country if its owner, ByteDance, fails to divest the popular short video app over the next nine months to a year.

ByteDance said it is not considering selling the app.

As per the ET report, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said that the facts and the US Constitution were on the company’s side.

TikTok’s official account on microblogging site X has stated that a potential ban on its app in the US would "trample the free speech" of millions of Americans.

The First Amendment of the US Constitution protects freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Carr said that this First Amendment argument will not work in favour of ByteDance if the matter reaches American courts. "India’s action on TikTok could very well play a role in the litigation in the US," Carr told ET.

"Imagine that TikTok is going to argue that this is some sort of unique American obsession with China to foresee threats that don't exist," Carr added. He also further said that the fact that India, which is a bordering neighbour to China, has seen a similar threat from the popular short video app and taken similar action, is going to be potentially relevant in some of the court filings.  "..to show that this is a broad deep concern about TikTok and not simply some unique feature of America's viewpoint on China," he further added.

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