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Supreme Court upholds TikTok ban-or-sale law set to start Sunday
- By cigaretteman
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The Supreme Court on Friday refused to block a federal law that would effectively ban TikTok in the United States as early as this weekend if the wildly popular video-sharing app does not divest from Chinese ownership.
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The justices’ order was a blow for TikTok, prohibiting its operation in the lead-up to Monday’s inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to “save” the app.
Trump had asked the Supreme Court to delay implementation of the law to give him an opportunity to act once he returns to the White House. With the court declining that option and no sale of the app seemingly imminent, the ban is now poised to take effect on the eve of Trump’s inauguration.
The ban-or-sale law was passed in April with bipartisan support and signed by President Joe Biden in response to national security concerns about the Chinese government’s potential influence over the platform.
With the Sunday deadline approaching, the Supreme Court scheduled a special session last week to hear a First Amendment challenge from the company and TikTok creators. They said the government’s national security concerns do not justify an unprecedented, sweeping restriction on the speech of 170 million Americans who use the app for news, entertainment and self-expression.
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At oral argument, a majority of justices appeared inclined to uphold the law, which requires TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform. They credited Congress’s concern about the Chinese government covertly using the app to collect vast amounts of sensitive data about millions of American users and potentially exploiting that information to blackmail young Americans or turn them into spies.
“That seems like a huge concern for the future of the country,” said Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh during the nearly three-hour argument.
Several justices from across the ideological spectrum also emphasized that foreign entities do not have First Amendment rights and that the site could continue to operate in a similar manner but under different, non-Chinese ownership.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/styl...t/?itid=mc_magnet-tiktok_inline_collection_19
While Trump has pledged to rescue the app from the ban-or-sale law, how he plans to do so remains unclear. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the president-elect is exploring unorthodox ways to aid the platform, including issuing an executive order once he takes office that would suspend enforcement of the law for 60 to 90 days. But Trump said earlier this week that until the Supreme Court weighed in, “nobody knows” TikTok’s fate.
Still, Trump has repeatedly given TikTok’s allies cause for hope, including inviting the company’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, to attend his swearing-in ceremony as an honored guest on the dais. Chew is also slated to attend at least two other celebrations for Trump ahead of his inauguration Monday, including a reception for the incoming Cabinet and a dinner for Vice President-elect JD Vance this weekend.
Under the TikTok law, known as the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, app-store giants such as Google and Apple and internet-hosting services could face massive fines if they continue to carry TikTok on their products beyond the Sunday deadline for divestment. Infractions could cost companies $5,000 for each user that continues to access TikTok, which could add up to billions of dollars in penalties.
While the law is aimed at forcing app stores and internet hosting services to stop carrying TikTok, executives inside the company have discussed pulling the app offline for U.S. users on Sunday to highlight how disruptive a ban would be, according to a person familiar with their thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal plans. The Information first reported on the possibility, but the person familiar with the discussions said no final decision had been made.
TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco said during oral argument that his understanding was the platform would “go dark” on Sunday if the court did not delay the law and the White House did not delay implementation.
TikTok has not publicly commented on its plans. TikTok employees in the United States were sent an email Tuesday saying the company was “planning for various scenarios” and that its offices would remain open “even if this situation hasn’t been resolved before the January 19 deadline.”
Even a temporary ban could lead to a major user exodus from which it would be difficult for the company to recover, according to TikTok. Even though the app would likely remain on the devices of users in the event of a ban, it could become inoperable, or their lack of access to updates could degrade their use of the site. TikTok’s website could also cease to function on internet browsers.
This week, ahead of the court’s decision, many users calling themselves “TikTok refugees” began shifting to competing video apps including the Chinese-owned RedNote and ByteDance-owned Lemon8. ByteDance could still stave off a TikTok ban by selling the app, but the company has insisted it does not plan to do so, and the Chinese government has said it opposes divestiture.
Get the latest election news and resultsThe justices’ order was a blow for TikTok, prohibiting its operation in the lead-up to Monday’s inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, who has promised to “save” the app.
Trump had asked the Supreme Court to delay implementation of the law to give him an opportunity to act once he returns to the White House. With the court declining that option and no sale of the app seemingly imminent, the ban is now poised to take effect on the eve of Trump’s inauguration.
The ban-or-sale law was passed in April with bipartisan support and signed by President Joe Biden in response to national security concerns about the Chinese government’s potential influence over the platform.
With the Sunday deadline approaching, the Supreme Court scheduled a special session last week to hear a First Amendment challenge from the company and TikTok creators. They said the government’s national security concerns do not justify an unprecedented, sweeping restriction on the speech of 170 million Americans who use the app for news, entertainment and self-expression.
💻
Follow Technology
At oral argument, a majority of justices appeared inclined to uphold the law, which requires TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform. They credited Congress’s concern about the Chinese government covertly using the app to collect vast amounts of sensitive data about millions of American users and potentially exploiting that information to blackmail young Americans or turn them into spies.
“That seems like a huge concern for the future of the country,” said Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh during the nearly three-hour argument.
Several justices from across the ideological spectrum also emphasized that foreign entities do not have First Amendment rights and that the site could continue to operate in a similar manner but under different, non-Chinese ownership.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/styl...t/?itid=mc_magnet-tiktok_inline_collection_19
While Trump has pledged to rescue the app from the ban-or-sale law, how he plans to do so remains unclear. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the president-elect is exploring unorthodox ways to aid the platform, including issuing an executive order once he takes office that would suspend enforcement of the law for 60 to 90 days. But Trump said earlier this week that until the Supreme Court weighed in, “nobody knows” TikTok’s fate.
Still, Trump has repeatedly given TikTok’s allies cause for hope, including inviting the company’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, to attend his swearing-in ceremony as an honored guest on the dais. Chew is also slated to attend at least two other celebrations for Trump ahead of his inauguration Monday, including a reception for the incoming Cabinet and a dinner for Vice President-elect JD Vance this weekend.
Under the TikTok law, known as the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, app-store giants such as Google and Apple and internet-hosting services could face massive fines if they continue to carry TikTok on their products beyond the Sunday deadline for divestment. Infractions could cost companies $5,000 for each user that continues to access TikTok, which could add up to billions of dollars in penalties.
While the law is aimed at forcing app stores and internet hosting services to stop carrying TikTok, executives inside the company have discussed pulling the app offline for U.S. users on Sunday to highlight how disruptive a ban would be, according to a person familiar with their thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal plans. The Information first reported on the possibility, but the person familiar with the discussions said no final decision had been made.
TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco said during oral argument that his understanding was the platform would “go dark” on Sunday if the court did not delay the law and the White House did not delay implementation.
TikTok has not publicly commented on its plans. TikTok employees in the United States were sent an email Tuesday saying the company was “planning for various scenarios” and that its offices would remain open “even if this situation hasn’t been resolved before the January 19 deadline.”
Even a temporary ban could lead to a major user exodus from which it would be difficult for the company to recover, according to TikTok. Even though the app would likely remain on the devices of users in the event of a ban, it could become inoperable, or their lack of access to updates could degrade their use of the site. TikTok’s website could also cease to function on internet browsers.
This week, ahead of the court’s decision, many users calling themselves “TikTok refugees” began shifting to competing video apps including the Chinese-owned RedNote and ByteDance-owned Lemon8. ByteDance could still stave off a TikTok ban by selling the app, but the company has insisted it does not plan to do so, and the Chinese government has said it opposes divestiture.
Trump said to plan blanket pardons for Jan. 6 defendants on Day 1
- By cigaretteman
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- 4 Replies
Utterly Deplorable, but it's what you'd expect from our POS felon president
:
President Donald Trump is poised to pardon all nonviolent Jan. 6 defendants and commute the sentences of most or all of those convicted of the most serious charges, according to people briefed on the plans. The plans could change before the pardons are announced.
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Declining a case-by-case review sought by some top advisers, Trump would grant some form of clemency to virtually everyone prosecuted by the Justice Department, from the plotters imprisoned for seditious conspiracy and felons convicted of assaulting police officers to those who merely trespassed on the restricted grounds on Jan. 6, 2021.
The department would also dismiss about 300 cases that have not yet gone to trial, including people charged with violent assaults, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss pending plans.
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Trump had repeatedly promised the pardons before and after voters returned him to office in November, as early as “the first nine minutes” of taking office, he told Time magazine.
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Overall, more than 1,580 defendants have been charged and more than 1,270 convicted in the Capitol riot investigation, on charges ranging from misdemeanor parading to seditious conspiracy. More than 700 of 1,100 people sentenced so far have received no prison time or have completed their sentence, and would receive limited immediate impact from a Trump pardon. But about 400 others remain incarcerated, serving sentences after admitting they committed the crimes they were charged with or being found guilty by a jury or judge. A small number of others are being held on court orders pending trial or sentencing.
Such a blanket action for Jan. 6 defendants would be an extraordinary statement about one of the most divisive chapters of recent U.S. history. In recent days, Vice President JD Vance, attorney general-nominee Pam Bondi and lawmakers including Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), have strongly condemned rioters who attacked police.
Even in late November, Trump told Time magazine he would not use a blanket approach: “I’m going to do case-by-case, and if they were nonviolent, I think they’ve been greatly punished.”
But core parts of his base have made clear they want everyone accused in the riot to be cleared, with Joey Mannarino, a podcast host with a large social media following, calling for the defendants to be honored as well.
“Not only should the J6ers be pardoned in a mass blanket pardon, they should be given Presidential Medals of Freedom for standing up when the country needed fighters the most,” Mannarino wrote on X this month. “Yes, the violent ones too.”
:
President Donald Trump is poised to pardon all nonviolent Jan. 6 defendants and commute the sentences of most or all of those convicted of the most serious charges, according to people briefed on the plans. The plans could change before the pardons are announced.
Get concise answers to your questions. Try Ask The Post AI.Declining a case-by-case review sought by some top advisers, Trump would grant some form of clemency to virtually everyone prosecuted by the Justice Department, from the plotters imprisoned for seditious conspiracy and felons convicted of assaulting police officers to those who merely trespassed on the restricted grounds on Jan. 6, 2021.
The department would also dismiss about 300 cases that have not yet gone to trial, including people charged with violent assaults, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss pending plans.
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Trump presidential transition
End of carousel
Trump had repeatedly promised the pardons before and after voters returned him to office in November, as early as “the first nine minutes” of taking office, he told Time magazine.
🌸
Follow D.C. region
Overall, more than 1,580 defendants have been charged and more than 1,270 convicted in the Capitol riot investigation, on charges ranging from misdemeanor parading to seditious conspiracy. More than 700 of 1,100 people sentenced so far have received no prison time or have completed their sentence, and would receive limited immediate impact from a Trump pardon. But about 400 others remain incarcerated, serving sentences after admitting they committed the crimes they were charged with or being found guilty by a jury or judge. A small number of others are being held on court orders pending trial or sentencing.
Such a blanket action for Jan. 6 defendants would be an extraordinary statement about one of the most divisive chapters of recent U.S. history. In recent days, Vice President JD Vance, attorney general-nominee Pam Bondi and lawmakers including Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), have strongly condemned rioters who attacked police.
Even in late November, Trump told Time magazine he would not use a blanket approach: “I’m going to do case-by-case, and if they were nonviolent, I think they’ve been greatly punished.”
But core parts of his base have made clear they want everyone accused in the riot to be cleared, with Joey Mannarino, a podcast host with a large social media following, calling for the defendants to be honored as well.
“Not only should the J6ers be pardoned in a mass blanket pardon, they should be given Presidential Medals of Freedom for standing up when the country needed fighters the most,” Mannarino wrote on X this month. “Yes, the violent ones too.”
Democractivists ... propagandists or journalists ??
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Billy Bush Tells Tucker Carlson ABC News Built 75 Person Unit Team Dedicated to Attacking President Trump “Get him at all costs" (Video) | The Gateway Pundit | by Margaret Flavin
Billy Bush reveals shocking details about a dedicated ABC News team aimed at undermining President Trump. Discover the implications of media activism in this eye-opening discussion with Tucker Carlson.
www.thegatewaypundit.com
Tucker Carlson: You said this was the beginning of Trump derangement syndrome. Did you sense that at NBC?
Billy Bush: Oh, God. Absolutely. I mean, anything. Remember this, over at ABC News, at the same time when Trump became President, they launched a 70… they built a 75-person investigative unit. I know the guy who was head of it, dedicated to anything negative on Trump. Find stuff on him and get him out.
This is not journalism.
This is not news.
It is activism.
When you’re calling it journalism, it’s total activism.
By the way, when NBC does the shi**y thing that they did, ABC and CBS don’t call it out. They don’t say, Hey, you’re competing with each other. I would want to pound my competitor. ‘Look what you did. That was dirty’ because all of them would have done it, too, probably. You know what I mean? They all shared that mission.
Why did these homes survive the LA fires?
- By Colonoscopy
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- 12 Replies
Why did these homes survive the LA fires?
Amid the destruction some houses in Pacific Palisades and Malibu were left intact. Their fire-resistant features will be crucial to redevelopment.
www.afr.com
Why did these homes survive the LA fires?
Amid the destruction some houses in Pacific Palisades and Malibu were left intact. Their fire-resistant features will be crucial to redevelopment.
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Capitol rioter turns down Trump pardon
- By General Tso
- Off Topic
- 1 Replies
This isn't the only one.
I still have to laugh at the Rs on this board who defined Jan 6 when some of the people actually there are seeing their mistakes.
www.bbc.com
I still have to laugh at the Rs on this board who defined Jan 6 when some of the people actually there are seeing their mistakes.
Convicted US Capitol rioter Pam Hemphill turns down Trump pardon
Former "Maga granny" Pamela Hemphill tells the BBC the Trump government is trying to "rewrite history".
www.bbc.com