Comment by dragonwriter
12 hours ago
> "Free speech" is not a good argument here. TikTok isn't a "free speech" platform.
Free speech doesn't protect free speech platforms: free speech protects every speaker, platform, and listener against regulations targeted on the basis of content/viewpoint.
Yep and you are still protected under the 1st Amendment even if you can't use TikTok because the government stopped the company from doing business in America.
Three branches of government agree that this is not regulation targeted on the basis of content or viewpoint.
My point is that whether or not TikTok is a “free speech platform” has nothing to do with the application 1st Amendment, it was about the offered argument, not the conclusion.
OTOH, it wouldn't be the first time all three branches got the First Amendment wrong (one of the most popular 1A mantras — the one about fire in a crowded theater — came from dicta in what is now widely recognized as one such instance.)