Member-only story
Ban TikTok: Democracies Can Ban Any Foreign Entity
Democratize Regulation of Foreign Speech
Freedom of speech does not extend to foreign entities.
For this simple reason, it is entirely legitimate for the United States to ban TikTok.
In light of the “People’s” Republic of China’s (PRC’s) propaganda campaigns on TikTok, the USA should ban TikTok so as to prevent that anti-humanitarian regime from spreading deceitful rhetoric into our free society.
There are two U.S. free speech principles that may complicate the ban. This article discusses these principles, but it should be noted that overall the U.S. federal district and appellate courts that have ruled on the issue have not viewed these principles to govern TikTok’s situation and they have ruled strongly in favor of the U.S. government’s authority to ban TikTok. The U.S. Supreme Court will resolve this issue soon.
This entire topic, however, brings up an interesting issue: To promote free societies, how should propaganda from unfree societies be dealt with? Should unfree regimes have freedom in free societies to spend money on messaging?
Right to Access Foreign Propaganda
The first principle is that U.S. citizens seem to have a right to access foreign propaganda if they want to. Arguably, this principle does not concern the TikTok situation because TikTok is a platform. Banning a platform is far less concerning as a potential impingement on free speech rights than banning…