North Shore Louisiana News

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) filed an amicus brief in TikTok, et al. v. Garland yesterday, joined by a bipartisan group of lawmakers. The brief defends the constitutionality of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act against TikTok's legal challenges.

The group, led by Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, includes House Committee on Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Ranking Member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and 50 other colleagues from both chambers of Congress.

In their brief, the lawmakers state: "the Divestiture Act [also known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act] does not regulate speech or require any social media company to stop operating in the United States. The Divestiture Act is instead focused entirely on the regulation of foreign adversary control and provides a clear path for affected companies to resolve the national security threats posed by their current ownership structures."

They further argue: "Backed by extensive factfinding about the national security threat to the American people posed by certain foreign adversary controlled applications, the Divestiture Act resembles and, indeed, is narrower than numerous other restrictions on foreign ownership that Congress has enacted in other statutory regimes. And Congress did not transcend the limits imposed by the First Amendment and other constitutional restraints because 'it is long settled as a matter of American constitutional law that foreign citizens outside U.S. territory do not possess rights under the U.S. Constitution.'"

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act was introduced in March to address national security concerns related to ByteDance-controlled applications like TikTok. The bill prevents app store availability or web hosting services in the U.S. for such applications unless they sever ties with entities under foreign adversary control as defined by Congress in Title 10.

Additionally, it allows for a process where the President can designate specific social media applications that pose a national security risk due to foreign adversary control. These designated applications would face prohibitions on app store availability and web hosting services unless they divest from entities subject to such control.

Click HERE to read the amicus brief.