Prof. Alan Rozenshtein Quoted in Washington Post About Appeals Court Upholding TikTok Ban

Professor Alan Rozenshtein was quoted in the Washington Post about a federal appeals court turning away a challenge to a fast-approaching nationwide ban of the short-video app TikTok unless it divests from Chinese ownership. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit sided with the Justice Department, which argued that the U.S. government has the authority to ban TikTok based on the national security risk that the app could be pressured by the Chinese government to expose Americans’ data or influence what they see. TikTok’s parent, ByteDance, is based in China. Prof. Rozenshtein said, “This went about as badly for TikTok as it could’ve gone. I see no reason to think the Supreme Court will rule any differently than the DC circuit did.” Given that legal situation, Prof. Rozenshtein said, Donald Trump could take any of three actions to help TikTok fend off the ban: persuading Congress to repeal the law, directing his new attorney general not to enforce it, or declaring that ByteDance has satisfied the statute by performing a “qualified divestiture” of TikTok.