The Americans see TikTok as a threat to national security. President Joe Biden signed a law last week that threatens to ban TikTok in the United States. But there is much that is unclear about the concrete risks of the popular Chinese social media platform.
The services, such as the FBI, have shared this information with the US Congress. Not with the rest of the world. This kind of sensitive information is told to members of Congress in a sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF). Members of Congress are not allowed to take anything in or out of this room. Information is then shared confidentially, America expert Raymond Mens explains in BNR Digitaal.
Listen to the entire episode of BNR Digitaal here.
According to Mens, there are both foreign and domestic reasons for not sharing information with the outside world. For example, the Americans do not want the Chinese to know how much the Americans know. In addition, there may be a stir in the US itself.
Right
The law signed by Biden states, among other things, that ByteDance, the Chinese owner of TikTok, must sell the American parts. TikTok has said it will challenge the law in court.
Tech lawyer Lisette Meij of Lime Legal expects that if a lawsuit comes to trial, the US will have to be more specific about what risks the app poses to national security. ‘The US can blame national security, but then demonstrate what is really going on.’ According to her, it is striking that this information is being withheld by the US. Normally, a party like TikTok is pilloried in cases like this, she believes. ‘I’m curious what is so exciting now.’
‘I’m curious what is so exciting’
TikTok will probably rely on the First Amendment of the Constitution: ‘Freedom of Speech’ in court. According to Meij, the judge will be faced with a difficult decision. She doubts whether the judge will find national security of less importance than the First Amendment, for the sole reason that the danger of TikTok has not been made specific enough.
Also read | TikTok must tackle AI clones of Taylor Swift
It is possible that the case will end up in the Supreme Court. The judges of the Supreme Court do not judge whether the law is allowed or not as far as they are concerned, but they test it against the constitution. “If they do not see the law as constitutional, the law can be sent back to Congress to make it constitutional,” says Mens.
