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The problem with this argument is that you are putting TikTok on a pedestal. The US (and every country on the planet) has rules and regulations around who can

The problem with this argument is that you are putting TikTok on a pedestal. The US (and every country on the planet) has rules and regulations around who can do business in their country and who their citizens may do business with. If you want to argue that the U.S. shouldn't be able to prohibit its citizens from doing business with TikTok you should spend some time generalizing that argument and figuring out a good reason we shouldn't be able to prohibit Americans from selling weapons to Russia, or allowing Russian companies to set up manufacturing facilities in the United States to build weapons to send back to Russia. (or any other scenario you want to make up) "Free speech" is not a good argument here. TikTok isn't a "free speech" platform. It's just a random company selling products and services in the United States.

dragonwriter 2y ago
> "Free speech" is not a good argument here. TikTok isn't a "free speech" platform. Free speech doesn't protect free speech platforms: free speech protects every speaker, platform, and listener against regulations targeted on the basis of content/viewpoint.
- ericmay 2y ago
  Yep and you are still protected under the 1st Amendment even if you can't use TikTok because the government stopped the company from doing business in America.
- dialup_sounds 2y ago
  Three branches of government agree that this is not regulation targeted on the basis of content or viewpoint.
  - dragonwriter 2y ago
    My point is that whether or not TikTok is a “free speech platform” has nothing to do with the application 1st Amendment, it was about the offered argument, not the conclusion. OTOH, it wouldn't be the first time all three branches got the First Amendment wrong (one of the most popular 1A mantras — the one about fire in a crowded theater — came from dicta in what is now widely recognized as one such instance.)
    - dialup_sounds 2y ago
      That's a nice way of saying you took his words out of context to make a pedantic point that doesn't have to do with anything.
      - dragonwriter 2y ago
        No, I didn't take it out of context: the argument be made was irrelevant to the conclusion it was offered to support. Choosing not to make an argument either way about the conclusion to add to that comment about how inappropriate the argument was in context is neither taking it out of context nor pedantic.
        dialup_sounds 2y ago
        You didn't even address an argument. You literally took three words and dunked on them for not meaning anything on their own, when in context that is exactly the point.

dragonwriter 2y ago

> "Free speech" is not a good argument here. TikTok isn't a "free speech" platform. Free speech doesn't protect free speech platforms: free speech protects every speaker, platform, and listener against regulations targeted on the basis of content/viewpoint.

ericmay 2y ago
Yep and you are still protected under the 1st Amendment even if you can't use TikTok because the government stopped the company from doing business in America.
dialup_sounds 2y ago
Three branches of government agree that this is not regulation targeted on the basis of content or viewpoint.
- dragonwriter 2y ago
  My point is that whether or not TikTok is a “free speech platform” has nothing to do with the application 1st Amendment, it was about the offered argument, not the conclusion. OTOH, it wouldn't be the first time all three branches got the First Amendment wrong (one of the most popular 1A mantras — the one about fire in a crowded theater — came from dicta in what is now widely recognized as one such instance.)
  - dialup_sounds 2y ago
    That's a nice way of saying you took his words out of context to make a pedantic point that doesn't have to do with anything.
    - dragonwriter 2y ago
      No, I didn't take it out of context: the argument be made was irrelevant to the conclusion it was offered to support. Choosing not to make an argument either way about the conclusion to add to that comment about how inappropriate the argument was in context is neither taking it out of context nor pedantic.
      - dialup_sounds 2y ago
        You didn't even address an argument. You literally took three words and dunked on them for not meaning anything on their own, when in context that is exactly the point.