WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, in a unanimous ruling in TikTok v. Garland, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a new law that will ban the app if TikTok’s China-based owner, ByteDance, does not divest itself of the company by Sunday. 

Independent Women’s Forum recognizes and takes seriously the foreign security threat of the Chinese Communist Party’s control of the social media app and the role of government to address privacy concerns and the potential misuse of Americans’ data. 

Shortly before the Supreme Court ruling, President-elect Donald Trump took to Truth Social to share details of a call with China President Xi Jinping, reporting the two discussed TikTok safety, among other issues.  

“The justices of the Supreme Court declared with one strong voice that the TikTok ban must be upheld. Both Houses of Congress joined in a bipartisan agreement to end the use of this application in our nation for many good reasons,” said Patrice Onwuka, director of the Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) at Independent Women’s Forum. “Congress did not pass the buck, and the justices made it clear that this branch’s decision must be respected and upheld.

“TikTok is owned by a foreign entity, not a U.S. company. Even if people worry about the implications of free speech, popularity does not trump national security. The tentacles of the Chinese Communist Party government are all over TikTok. We don’t know what kind of control the CCP has over TikTok’s algorithm, internal workings, or the data of users. Never mind that the actual content fed to the minds of our young people has been shown to be destructive or how its content can be manipulated to interfere in U.S. elections.

“It does not matter what China may use the data for—although we have no reason to believe they don’t have malicious designs in mind—we cannot trade personal privacy for likes. Otherwise, any other enterprising nation can develop a popular application that also mimics the TikTok strategy.”

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Independent Women’s Forum’s Center for Economic Opportunity (CEO) aims to educate the public about how government policies impact people’s opportunities for economic development and upward mobility.