TikTok and the U.S. face off in court over law that could lead to a ban on the popular platform

TikTok faced off with the U.S. government in federal court on Monday, arguing a law that could ban the platform in a few short months is unconstitutional while the Justice Department said it is needed to eliminate a national security risk posed by the popular social media company.

In a more than two-hour appearance before a panel of three judges at a federal appeals court in Washington, attorneys for the two sides - and content creators - were pressed on their best arguments for and against the law that forces TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance to break ties by mid-January or lose one of their biggest markets in the world.

Andrew Pincus, a veteran attorney representing the two companies, argued in court that the law unfairly targets the company and runs afoul of the First Amendment because TikTok Inc. - the U.S. arm of TikTok - is an American entity. After his remarks, another attorney representing content creators who are also challenging the law argued it violates the rights of U.S. speakers and is akin to prohibiting Americans from publishing on foreign-owned media outlets, such as Politico, Al Jazeera or Spotify.

“The law before this court is unprecedented and its effect would be staggering,” Pincus said, adding the act would impose speech limitations based on future risks.

The measure, signed by President Joe Biden in April, was the culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China.

The U.S. has said it's concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. Officials have also warned the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect.

Daniel Tenny, an attorney for the Justice Department, acknowledged in court that data collection is useful for many companies for commercial purposes, such as target advertisements or tailoring videos to users' interests.

“The problem is that same data is extremely valuable to a foreign adversary trying to compromise the security of the United States,” he said.

Pincus, the attorney for TikTok, said Congress should have erred on the side of disclosing any potential propaganda on the platform instead of pursuing a divesture-or-ban approach, which the two companies have maintained will only lead to a ban. He also said statements from lawmakers before the law was passed shows they were motivated by the propaganda they perceived to be on TikTok, namely an imbalance between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel content on the platform during the war in Gaza.

But the panel - composed of two Republican and one Democrat appointed judges - expressed some skepticism, pressing the attorneys on TikTok's side if they believe the government has any leeway to curtail an influential media company controlled by a foreign entity in an adversarial nation. In parts of their questions about TikTok's foreign ownership, the judges asked if the arguments presented would apply in cases where the U.S. is engaged in war.

Judge Neomi Rao, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, said the creators suing over the law could continue speaking on TikTok if the company is sold or if they choose to post content on other platforms. But Jeffrey Fisher, their attorney, argued there are not “interchangeable mediums” for them because TikTok — which has 170 million U.S. users — is unique in its look and feel, and the types of audiences it allows them to reach.

Paul Tran, one of the content creators who is suing the government, told reporters outside the courthouse on Monday that a skincare company him and his wife founded in 2018 was struggling until they started making TikTok videos three years ago. He said they had tried to market their products through traditional advertising and other social media apps. But the TikTok videos were the only thing that drove views, helping them get enough orders to sell out of products and even appear on TV shows.

“TikTok truly invigorated our company and saved it from collapse,” Tran said.

Currently, he noted the company - Love and Pebble - sells more than 90% of its products over TikTok, which is covering the legal fees for the creator lawsuit.

In the second half of the hearing, the panel pressed the Justice Department on First Amendment challenges to the law.

Judge Sri Srinivasan, the chief judge on the court who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, said efforts to stem content manipulation through government action does set off alarm bells and impact people who receive speech on TikTok. Tenny, the attorney for the DOJ, responded by saying the law doesn't target TikTok users or creators and that any impact on them is only indirect.

For its part, TikTok has repeatedly said it does not share U.S. user data with the Chinese government and that concerns the government has raised have never been substantiated. In their lawsuit, TikTok and ByteDance have also claimed divestment is not possible. And even if it was, they say TikTok would be reduced to a shell of its former self because it would be stripped of the technology that powers it.

Though the government’s primary reasoning for the law is public, significant portions of its court filings includes information that's redacted.

In one of the redacted statements submitted in late July, the Justice Department claimed TikTok took direction from the Chinese government about content on its platform, without disclosing additional details about when or why those incidents occurred. Casey Blackburn, a senior U.S. intelligence official, wrote in a legal statement that ByteDance and TikTok “have taken action in response” to Chinese government demands “to censor content outside of China.” Though the intelligence community had “no information” that this has happened on the platform operated by TikTok in the U.S., Blackburn said it may occur.

But the companies have argued the government could have taken a more tailored approach to resolve its concerns.

During high-stakes negotiations with the Biden administration more than two years ago, TikTok presented the government with a draft 90-page agreement that allows a third party to monitor the platform’s algorithm, content moderation practices and other programming. But it said a deal was not reached because government officials essentially walked away from the negotiating table in August 2022.

Justice officials have argued complying with the draft agreement is impossible, or would require extensive resources, due to the size and the technical complexity of the platform. They say the only thing that would resolve the government’s concerns is severing the ties between TikTok and ByteDance.

TikTok content creators Talia Cadet, left, and Paul Tran leave the federal courthouse in Washington, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after a hearing on TikTok's lawsuit against the federal government. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

TikTok content creator Paul Tran talk to the press as he leaves the federal courthouse in Washington, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after a hearing on TikTok's lawsuit against the federal government. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

TikTok Attorney Andrew Pincus leaves the federal courthouse in Washington, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after a hearing on TikTok's lawsuit against the federal government. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

FILE - The TikTok Inc. building is seen in Culver City, Calif., on March 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

TikTok content creator Paul Tran talks to the press as he leaves the federal courthouse in Washington, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, after a hearing on TikTok's lawsuit against the federal government. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

FILE - The TikTok Inc. building is seen in Culver City, Calif., on March 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

Florida residents began repairing damage from Hurricane Milton, which smashed through coastal communities and tore homes to pieces, flooded streets and spawned a deadly tornadoes.

At least nine people are dead, but many expressed relief that Milton wasn’t worse.

Follow AP’s coverage of tropical weather at https://apnews.com/hub/hurricanes.

Here’s the latest:

An apartment complex in Clearwater was evacuated early Thursday when water from a canal started rising.

Residents were gathered in a shopping center parking lot as crews worked to clear the property Friday.

Jared Lynch, 32, said he was at home on his first floor apartment when the water started to rise Wednesday night.

“It wasn’t that bad at 10 o’clock, but that’s when it started rising,” he said, adding that by 2 a.m., the water was up to his doorknobs. That’s when he left.

“There were literally people walking through the water with baskets on their heads. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” Lynch said.

But Deanne Criswell says FEMA will need additional funding at some point.

Criswell says the agency is keeping account every day of how much they’re drawing from the disaster assistance fund. That’s a pot of money allocated specifically to help the agency respond to emergencies across the country.

The fund gets replenished every year by Congress and is used to pay for recovery from hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and other disasters.

Congress recently replenished the fund with $20 billion — the same amount FEMA got last year. About $8 billion of that is set aside for recovery from previous storms and mitigation projects.

Criswell says the fund won’t have enough money to last through the entire fiscal year, which stretches to September of next year. She says at some point, they’ll have to go back to Congress to ask for a boost to the disaster relief fund.

“We will need one. It’s just a matter of when,” she said.

Mayor Lynne Matthews spoke at a news conference Friday with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and the city’s manager, Gregory B. Murray.

Matthews says 121 people had to be rescued after Hurricane Helene made landfall Sept. 26 but rescuers only had to save three people after Milton came through.

“So people listened to the evacuation order,” Matthews said.

“I know we had teams out with the megaphones going through all of our mobile home communities and other places to let people know that they needed to evacuate,” she said.

Bruce Kinsler, 68, was part of a Polk County “push crew” that began clearing roads before 6 a.m. on Thursday. A truck struck Kinsler as he and a coworker were trying to clear a tree that had fallen across the road as the storm passed through the area. The driver of the truck was a county employee who was arriving to join Kinsler for post-storm recovery work.

“The tragedy of this incident is compounded by the fact that Bruce Kinsler was killed serving the residents of this county,” said Bill Braswell, chairman of the Polk County Commission. “We ask a lot of the employees as public servants, and they respond to the call. For this to happen is just a tragedy.”

The White House announced Biden’s visit but did not detail exactly where the president will travel.

Biden was scheduled to be briefed by aides Friday afternoon on the federal response and recovery in the aftermath of Hurricanes Milton and Helene. He’ll then deliver remarks from the White House to update the public about those efforts.

One of those Friday was a large pig stuck in high water at a strip mall in Lithia, FLorida, which is east of Tampa. Cindy Evers led the rescue of the pig and she’s also saved a donkey and several goats.

The animals are being taken to Evers’ farm for the time being.

“I’m high and dry where I’m at and I have a barn and nine acres,” she said. “So we have plenty of room for these animals to be safe.” Evers said she’ll figure out next steps later, such as finding the animals' owners.

Gov. DeSantis noted interactions with downed power lines and water.

“We are seeing hazards that are still there,” he said. He said people should take care around standing water and should use generators properly.

“You have to make the proper decisions and know that there are hazards out there,” he said.

Human-caused climate change intensified deadly Hurricane Milton ’s rainfall by 20 to 30% and strengthened its winds by about 10%, scientists said in a new flash study. The analysis comes just two weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated the southeastern United States, a storm also fueled by climate change.

World Weather Attribution researchers said Friday that without climate change, a hurricane like Milton would make landfall as a weaker Category 2, not considered a “major” storm, instead of a Category 3.

WWA’s rapid studies aren’t peer-reviewed but use peer-reviewed methods. The WWA compares a weather event with what might have been expected in a world that hasn’t warmed about 1.3 degree Celsius since pre-industrial times.

▶ Read more about how climate change affected Milton.

Only authorized personnel are allowed on the bases. There was damage and flooding at MacDill, which is home to U.S. Central Command and Special Operations Command.

There's no significant damage at Patrick and teams are working to restore critical infrastructure, according to the Air Force.

The river is 25 miles (40 kilometers) long and runs from eastern Hillsborough County, east of Tampa, into Tampa Bay.

The sheriff’s office asked people to call 911 if they need help getting out of their homes.

A pair of unwelcome and destructive guests named Helene and Milton have stormed their way into this year’s presidential election.

The back-to-back hurricanes have jumbled the schedules of Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump, both of whom devoted part of their Thursdays to tackling questions about the storm recovery effort.

The two hurricanes are forcing basic questions about who as president would best respond to deadly natural disasters, a once-overlooked issue that has become an increasingly routine part of the job. And just weeks before the Nov. 5 election, the storms have disrupted the mechanics of voting in several key counties.

A pick up drives past a guard gate on a flooded street in Siesta Key, Fla., following the passage Hurricane Milton, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

FILE - People are rescued from an apartment complex after flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, Oct. 10, 2024, in Clearwater, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

FILE - A house sits toppled off its stilts after the passage of Hurricane Milton, alongside an empty lot where a home was swept away by Hurricane Helene, in Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island, Fla., Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)