TikTok at the Crossroads of Law and Politics

Last week, TikTok filed a lawsuit against the US government claiming the divest-or-ban law is unconstitutional — a case it needs to win in order to keep operating under Bytedance’s ownership. There’s a lot of back and forth between the facts and the law here: Some of the legal claims are complex and sit in tension with a long history of prior attempts to regulate speech and the internet, while the simple facts of what TikTok has already promised to do around the world contradict some its arguments. Verge editors Sarah Jeong and Alex Heath join me to explain what it all means.

Links: 

• TikTok and Bytedance v Merrick Garland (PDF)
• TikTok sues the US government over ban | The Verge
• Senate passes TikTok ban bill, sending it to President Biden’s desk | The Verge
• The legal challenges that lie ahead for TikTok — in both the US and China | The Verge
• Why the TikTok ban won’t solve the US’s online privacy problems. | Decoder 
• Biden signs TikTok ‘ban’ bill into law, starting the clock for ByteDance to divest it | The Verge

Credits:

Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Today’s episode was produced by Kate Cox and Nick Statt and was edited by Callie Wright.

The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.

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