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Eight TikTok creators sue U.S. government over potential ban

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Culture & Trends


EIGHT TIKTOK CREATORS SUE U.S. GOVERNMENT OVER POTENTIAL BAN

The lawsuit argues the new law threatens free expression.
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TikTok creators sue government, say law violates 1st amendment
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May 15, 2024, 12:43 AM GMT+2 / Updated May 15, 2024, 3:14 AM GMT+2
By Angela Yang

Eight TikTok creators sued the U.S. government on Tuesday, arguing that a new
law forcing a sale or ban of the popular video-sharing app violates their First
Amendment rights.

The law “bans an entire medium of communication and all the speech communicated
through that medium, even though, at the very least, the vast majority of that
speech is protected,” stated the lawsuit.




The 33-page complaint, first reported by The Washington Post, comes a week after
TikTok filed its own lawsuit against the federal government, also citing
constitutional concerns over free speech. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S.
Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C., due to a provision in the law that grants
the court “exclusive jurisdiction” for any legal challenge to it.

Signed into law last month by President Joe Biden, the Protecting Americans from
Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act — pushed forward with bipartisan
support after years of congressional scrutiny against TikTok — would ban the app
from the U.S. market if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, does not divest
it.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday describes TikTok as a critical “part of American
life.” 


READ MORE OF NBC NEWS' COVERAGE OF THE POTENTIAL TIKTOK BAN:

 * TikTok sues U.S. government, saying potential ban violates First Amendment
 * Biden signs a bill that could ban TikTok — after the 2024 election
 * TikTok CEO Shou Chew says fight over ban will head to court: ‘We aren’t going
   anywhere’

The creators who are suing all hail from different states and backgrounds. All
eight “have found their voices, amassed significant audiences, made new friends,
and encountered new and different ways of thinking—all because of TikTok’s novel
way of hosting, curating, and disseminating speech,” the lawsuit states.



The group includes Brian Firebaugh, a rancher in rural Texas; Chloe Joy Sexton,
a Tennessee baker who owns a cookie business; Talia Cadet, a D.C.-area based
book reviewer; Timothy Martin, a college football coach in North Dakota; Kiera
Spann, a political activist in North Carolina; Paul Tran, a skin care brand
founder in Georgia; Topher Townsend, a Mississippi-based rapper; and Steven
King, a comedy creator in Arizona.

The ban “threatens to deprive them, and the rest of the country, of this
distinctive means of expression and communication,” according to the suit.

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TikTok files lawsuit calling potential US ban ‘unconstitutional’
02:06

The creators, many who have posted videos vocalizing their concerns, suggest a
TikTok ban could also threaten their livelihood, given that they've built large
communities on the platform. The lawsuit states that all of the plaintiffs “have
tried using other social media apps, with far less success.”   

Sexton, for example, began making videos on TikTok after losing her job in 2020
and now has more than 2.2 million followers, according to the lawsuit. She
launched a cookie company and published a cookbook as a result of her success on
the app. 

“Losing the platform would be losing not only my income but my most effective
means of connecting with people around the world,” she said in a statement. “I’m
proud to be part of this lawsuit and to stand up for everyone who counts on
TikTok like I do.”

TikTok, which boasts 170 million American users, has been under scrutiny by
lawmakers for several years. Many supporters of the law have warned that the
platform is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party and is a national security
threat to the United States. 




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TIKTOK

But the platform has pushed back — in its lawsuit, TikTok argued that invoking
national security concerns is not a sufficient reason for restricting free
speech, and that the burden is on the federal government to prove that this
restriction is warranted. It has not met that burden, the lawsuit stated.



Tuesday’s lawsuit described the aim of the ban as “content-based,
viewpoint-based, and speaker-based,” citing multiple instances of U.S.
congressional members suggesting without evidence that TikTok disseminates
Chinese government propaganda or promotes “anti-American” and “anti-Israel”
messaging.

The Justice Department defended the legislation.

“This legislation addresses critical national security concerns in a manner that
is consistent with the First Amendment and other constitutional limitations,” a
Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement. “We look forward to
defending the legislation in court.”



When asked for comment on the new legal action being taken by the eight
creators, a spokesperson for TikTok directed NBC News to the law firm Davis
Wright Tremaine, which is representing the group. 

The firm has previously represented TikTok creators who have fought against
proposed legislation involving the platform. After Montana became the first
state to issue a TikTok ban last year, five content creators brought a suit
against the state. A federal judge blocked the ban, saying it “violates the
Constitution in more ways than one.”



In 2020, the law firm also represented three creators who sued the U.S.
government over then-President Donald Trump’s executive order banning TikTok,
which resulted in a federal judge blocking Trump’s ban.

TikTok financed the plaintiffs’ attorney fees in the Montana case and will do so
again in this latest federal case, according to a spokesperson for Davis Wright
Tremaine.

“Our clients rely on TikTok to express themselves, learn, and find community.
They hope to vindicate not only their First Amendment rights, but the rights of
the other approximately 170 million Americans who also use TikTok,” Ambika
Kumar, the lead attorney on the case, said in an email statement. “The ban is a
pernicious attack on free speech that is contrary to the nation’s founding
principles.”


Angela Yang

Angela Yang is a culture and trends reporter for NBC News.



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