TikTok on Thursday pushed back against U.S. government arguments that the popular social media platform is not shielded by the First Amendment, comparing its platform to prominent American media organizations owned by foreign entities.
Last month, the Justice Department argued in a legal brief filed in a Washington federal appeals court that neither TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, nor the platform’s global and U.S. arms — TikTok Ltd. and TikTok Inc. — were entitled to First Amendment protections because they are “foreign organizations operating abroad” or owned by one.
TikTok attorneys have made the First Amendment a key part of their legal challenge to the federal law requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok to an approved buyer or face a ban.
It kinda reinforces the idea that China and USA are both extremely authoritarian and narrowly control free speech.
I agree though I should point out there’s a bit of hyperbole to your statement. The United States does at least on the face of things allow Free Speech inside its borders. But largely only because they know those that disagree with them have no real power currently. And are no real threat.
Well except when all those students protested for Gaza.
Where has the US government done anything regarding them? There hasn’t even been a uniform response from University to university. And the ones in particular that you’re talking about look like they’re going to be facing some pretty decent fines and fuck around and find out repercussions. There’s already been one administrator that’s lost their position if I remember correctly. But that should only be the start. Still that’s not the US government.
They lost their position because they weren’t hard enough on students. Cops raided many universities, breaking up protests and arresting students. California is passing an anti protesting law. Congress literally called in University leaders for questioning the “anti semitism” on their campuses. The only reason universities did anything against the protests in the first place is because of the pro Israel position of the US government.