TikTok appeals ban, says it violates First Amendment rights

NEW YORK (PIX11) -- The clock is ticking for the popular social media platform TikTok as a looming ban on the app is set to happen on January 19th of next year. 

The company made a direct request to the highest court of the country to block that ban, saying it violates its free speech rights under the First Amendment.  

What started as a hobby during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic has become a way of living for content creators Nicky & Jojo Scarlotta known on social media for their comedic impressions about New Yorkers and inflation.

“Nicky and I personally use this as a way to get our foot in the door, to explore other things that we are passionate about such as acting, filmmaking,” says Jojo adding, “TikTok was one of the stepping stones to get us there.”

They average close to a million followers together on TikTok, with their popularity landing them a spot in the reality competition series “The Circle” on Netflix.

Opportunity also knocked at the door of Mr Aphrica. With 1.2 million followers, most of his page is filled with comedy skits mixed with his African roots. He quit his full-time job after blowing up on TikTok and now, does content creation full-time. He says “People say 'it is just a 30-second video.' Not everybody has the creativity to think of the idea, execute it, edit the video then post it. Some people are not even good on camera so it's different skills to different things."

The livelihood of content creators and businesses across the United States on TikTok is at stake. In April, congress passed a bipartisan law requiring TikTok’s Chinese owner, Byte Dance, to sell the platform within 9 months to an American company or face a ban. On Monday, TikTok, made a final effort to file an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to delay the law-- saying in part the ban will impact TikTok’s more than 170 million monthly American users silencing the speech of those who use the platform to communicate. 

Leslie Garfield Tenzer a law professor at Pace University says the likelihood of anything happening at the highest court is slim. “If you look at how the Supreme Court has dealt with social media issues generally speaking, they have basically thrown up their hands, that social media is so big that they don’t know what to do.”

President-elect Trump addressed the matter on Monday afternoon “We will take a look at TikTok. You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok because I won youth by 34 points, and there are those that say that TikTok has something to do with that.”

Trump unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok during his first term in 2020 but has since had a change of heart. He met with TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew according to a source familiar with the matter. However, Professor Tenzer says the president-elect has two options once he takes office.
“Get Congress to pass a law that overrules it. He may be able to make some kind of executive order, but I don’t think he has the power under the constitution to make an executive order that’s so sweeping that it can overturn the congressional act.”

In the meantime, creators like Benjamin Zamora, an independent journalist, who has close to 6 million followers worldwide, plan to set up an office and hire staff in Mexico. “To have a way in which I can continue filming my videos here in the United States, sending them to Mexico and then have a system where they can distribute them across the platforms,” says Zamora adding, “We are going to continue operating, our global TikTok account because we have 2 million followers in Mexico & Latin America.”

Nicky Scarlotta points out the economy may also feel the impact “It would hurt not only us, but it would hurt the people who rely on as their primary income or revenue or some sort of business source like that.”

“To the people that say that TikTok isn’t a job, I feel like it is. It’s a job," says Mr. Aphrica

In the emergency request TikTok filed, it asked the Supreme Court justices to relay their decision by January 6th, 2025.