4 ms·

The constitution applies to American users and to non-Americans on American soil. It's not like the cops can execute you for being here on a tourist visa.

throwawaymaths 2y ago
I do not think that the constitution necessarily applies to corporations. Corporations, for example, do not have a vote. Forced corporate divestiture is a thing, for example Merck.
- rinvi 2y ago
  Corporations have First Amendment rights as ruled by Citizens United v. FEC. Even though corporations don’t have a vote (which is its own can of worms because of their economic power, money = vote), they still enjoy some of the same constitutional protections as individuals do.
  - throwawaymaths 2y ago
    i mean that's old law. theres a new law in town and it was a 9-0 ruling too.
  - zeroonetwothree 2y ago
    Thats only because those corporations are owned by Americans. Foreign corporations do not have first amendment rights.
    - Gormo 2y ago
      No, there's no such reasoning in that decision, which confirmed that speech itself is protected by the first amendment, regardless of who originates it. And this ruling had little to do with any of that -- the first amendment challenge was that the ban imposed content-based burdens on the speech of the users of TikTok, and the court ruled that it did not. So the ban therefore survived the challenge under intermediate scrutiny. The domestic vs. foreign ownership element of the ruling only pertained to the evaluation of whether there was a compelling government interest in enacting the ban, not whether the government was exempt from first amendment scrutiny at all.
- afiori 2y ago
  Something being a free speech violation does not imply it being illegal, free speech exist as a independent concept from the US constitution
- Gormo 2y ago
  The constitution applies to the government. It establishes the government and defines -- and therefor limits -- what the government is allowed to do. Corporations are considered "legal persons" for the purpose of applying the law to them in a convenient and organized way, but in real life, corporations are just organizational models employed by human beings for the purpose of coordinating their activities. The restrictions applicable to what the government is allowed to do to "people" as defined in the constitution apply regardless of what organizational models those people are using to coordinate their activities. Ultimately, everything in society reduces to people, and the government is not entitled to use reified abstractions to escape the constraints on its authority.
chrisco255 2y ago
The constitution applies to the people of the United States. It's in the first line: "We the people of the United States..." That Constitution also includes numerous clauses granting Congress the authority to regulate international commerce (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3). TikTok is a foreign commercial enterprise. We have restricted foreign products and services since the Boston Tea Party.

throwawaymaths 2y ago

I do not think that the constitution necessarily applies to corporations. Corporations, for example, do not have a vote. Forced corporate divestiture is a thing, for example Merck.

rinvi 2y ago
Corporations have First Amendment rights as ruled by Citizens United v. FEC. Even though corporations don’t have a vote (which is its own can of worms because of their economic power, money = vote), they still enjoy some of the same constitutional protections as individuals do.
- throwawaymaths 2y ago
  i mean that's old law. theres a new law in town and it was a 9-0 ruling too.
- zeroonetwothree 2y ago
  Thats only because those corporations are owned by Americans. Foreign corporations do not have first amendment rights.
  - Gormo 2y ago
    No, there's no such reasoning in that decision, which confirmed that speech itself is protected by the first amendment, regardless of who originates it. And this ruling had little to do with any of that -- the first amendment challenge was that the ban imposed content-based burdens on the speech of the users of TikTok, and the court ruled that it did not. So the ban therefore survived the challenge under intermediate scrutiny. The domestic vs. foreign ownership element of the ruling only pertained to the evaluation of whether there was a compelling government interest in enacting the ban, not whether the government was exempt from first amendment scrutiny at all.
afiori 2y ago
Something being a free speech violation does not imply it being illegal, free speech exist as a independent concept from the US constitution
Gormo 2y ago
The constitution applies to the government. It establishes the government and defines -- and therefor limits -- what the government is allowed to do. Corporations are considered "legal persons" for the purpose of applying the law to them in a convenient and organized way, but in real life, corporations are just organizational models employed by human beings for the purpose of coordinating their activities. The restrictions applicable to what the government is allowed to do to "people" as defined in the constitution apply regardless of what organizational models those people are using to coordinate their activities. Ultimately, everything in society reduces to people, and the government is not entitled to use reified abstractions to escape the constraints on its authority.

chrisco255 2y ago

The constitution applies to the people of the United States. It's in the first line: "We the people of the United States..." That Constitution also includes numerous clauses granting Congress the authority to regulate international commerce (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3). TikTok is a foreign commercial enterprise. We have restricted foreign products and services since the Boston Tea Party.