TikTok compares itself to foreign-owned media in fight against sale or ban

TikTok on Thursday pushed back against US 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 US arms TikTok Ltd. and TikTok Inc. were entitled to First Amendment protections because they are foreign organizations operating abroad or owned by one.