Tag Archives: Amendment

Social media giant TikTok has sued the U.S. government, alleging that recently signed legislation that could potentially ban the app violates the First Amendment rights of both the company and its users. 

Last month, President Joe Biden signed a foreign aid package that included legislation requiring ByteDance — TikTok’s Chinese parent company — to sell the social media platform within 270 days or be banned from app stores and web-hosting services. The legislation would also create a process through which the president can designate other social media applications with ties to foreign governments as a national security risk and force divestment.  

“Congress has taken the unprecedented step of expressly singling out and banning TikTok: a vibrant online forum for…

Would you believe the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have something in common? They both believe that the state should be able to force web companies to host content that these platforms disagree with or find morally objectionable in some fashion.

If that sounds remarkable, check out the amicus brief that the ACLU submitted Friday defending the authority of the state of Colorado to make a small web company host pictures of gay weddings against the will of the company’s owner. Note how similar it is to Florida’s attempts to force web companies to carry campaign messages from political candidates against the platforms’ will.

Lorie Smith, owner of web design firm 303 Creative, is challenging Colorado’s…