Fast-moving bipartisan House legislation that would force TikTok to seek an owner outside of China faces free-speech obstacles.
TikTok faces the risk of being forced to divest completely from its parent company, ByteDance, over its connections to the Chinese Communist Party.
The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, set for a vote Wednesday, would force TikTok to completely divest from its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned in the United States. The short-form video app is doing all it can to try to stop Congress from passing the bill.
One of the bill’s weaknesses is the argument that it would run afoul of the First Amendment.
There are some “serious constitutional questions” facing Congress and the courts regarding this bill, said Kevin Goldberg, First Amendment specialist at the Freedom Forum, a nonpartisan organization advocating free speech.
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