Written by: Haim Ravia, Dotan Hammer
The highly publicized TikTok legal battle in the U.S. culminated in the Supreme Court decision upholding the law banning TikTok’s operations in the U.S., finding that the law’s focus on TikTok’s corporate structure passes muster under the constitutional First Amendment rights of TikTok and its users.
Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), The Court also held that the law, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), is sufficiently tailored to prevent China from accessing the data of 170 million U.S. users, which the Court acknowledged as a valid national security concern.
The PAFACA prohibits U.S. companies from providing services to distribute, maintain, or update TikTok unless TikTok severs its ties to its Chinese parent company. As a result, TikTok was due to be banned in the U.S., with the platform going dark for its users.
However, the ban was short-lived. Three days after the Court decision and just one day after taking office, President Trump issued an Executive Order instructing the Attorney General not to enforce the PAFACA for 75 days. According to the new administration, the extension will allow the administration to re-assess the national security implications of the PAFACA and to explore alternative options. The order also requires the Attorney General to issue guidance on its implementation. Following the Order, TikTok resumed its operations in the United States.
Click here to read the Supreme Court’s decision in TikTok Inc v. Garland.
Click here to read the Executive Order on “Application of Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act to Tiktok”.
