TikTok today took its battle against the Protecting Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act to the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to block a law that would take effect on January 19, the day before the inauguration day.
TikTok claims the law violates the First Amendment. “The law will shut down one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before the presidential inauguration. This, in turn, will silence the speeches of candidates and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate on politics, business, the arts, and other matters of public concern. The legal file is here.
Why we care. It’s simply an increasingly important marketing channel for a wide range of brands. It’s worth adding that this is also a huge market for influencers whose self-generated content can have a bigger impact than the most sophisticated brand campaigns. Whatever one thinks about the role of Chinese owner ByteDance and the risks to data privacy, the shutdown of the platform is a big deal. Don’t hesitate to bet on the Supreme Court’s decision on this matter.
Dig Deeper: How TikTok is transforming brand advertising
Add MarTech to your Google News feed. 
About the author
Kim Davis is currently an editor at MarTech. Born in London, but a New Yorker for almost three decades, Kim became interested in enterprise software ten years ago. His experience spans enterprise SaaS, data-driven city planning, and digital advertising, as well as applications of SaaS, digital technology, and data in marketing. He first wrote about marketing technology as editor of Haymarket’s The Hub, a marketing technology website, which later became a channel of established direct marketing brand DMN. Kim joined DMN proper in 2016, as editor-in-chief, rising to editor-in-chief, then editor-in-chief, a position he held until January 2020. Shortly after, he joined Third Door Media in as editorial director at MarTech.
Kim was an assistant editor at a hyper-local New York Times news site, The Local: East Village, and previously worked as an editor at a college publication and as a music journalist. He has written hundreds of New York restaurant reviews for a personal blog and has been an occasional guest contributor to Eater.
