Bobby Allen
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-18-2024 6PM EST
The high court will hear arguments on January 10th, nine days before the law is set to take effect. Bobby Allen, NPR News.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-18-2024 6PM EST
The Supreme Court has accepted TikTok's emergency motion to review a law President Biden signed in April. The law bans TikTok nationwide unless it is sold to a non-Chinese company. It is meant to address lawmakers' national security concerns over possible Chinese influence.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-18-2024 6PM EST
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court affirmed the ban law, saying it actually protects free speech by preventing an adversarial government from censoring content. Lawyers for TikTok say singling out an app for shutdown used by roughly half of America is an unprecedented violation of the First Amendment.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
Well, it used to be that posts that were flagged by enough users underwent a fact-checking process by third-party professional fact-checkers. And when they were done, the post got a label. Now that is over. In its place is what's known as a community note system. This was inspired by how it works on Elon Musk's X.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
The fact-checking process is crowdsourced to regular users, and when the users reach some kind of consensus, a note is added to the post. That's big change one. Second big change, Steve, restrictions will be lifted on topics like immigration and gender identity. Currently, these protections are in place to curb hate speech. Now they are dismantled.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
In an Instagram video announcement, Zuckerberg says, Meta's speech policing has become too aggressive.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
And to say this is a big reversal is an understatement. After the 2016 presidential election, Zuckerberg himself came up with this fact-checking system. It followed revelations, of course, that Russia exploited Facebook to divide the country and boost the Trump campaign. Now Zuckerberg is abandoning the very fact-checking system that he helped create.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
He didn't say so explicitly, but yes, Zuckerberg's framing is quite notable. In his video, he said speech is being censored on Meta's platforms. It's an allegation Republicans have made for years and until now, an allegation he has fought against. Now, he is leaving some limits in place. One's
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
on speech that encourage crimes like terrorism, child sexual exploitation, and scams, but more lax rules also follow several other developments, Steve.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
Okay, Meta donating a million dollars to Trump's inaugural fund, Meta tapping Republican lobbyist Joel Kaplan to be Meta's global affairs officer, and putting Trump supporter Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, on Meta's board of directors. So, Taken altogether, I called up Meta observer Brendan Nyhan.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
He's a political scientist at Dartmouth College, and here is how he sees it.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
Couple reasons. Trump has been attacking Zuckerberg for years. Trump believes Zuckerberg's measures in 2020 to combat disinformation and bolster reliable election information was a type of election interference. Trump even threatened to throw Zuckerberg in prison if Meta did the same in 2024.
Up First from NPR
Facebook And MAGA, Winter Virus Season, LA Palisades Fire
On top of that, federal agencies have been investigating Meta over whether it has used its dominance to hurt competitors and And one big case Meta is facing was brought by the Federal Trade Commission back in 2020, so during Trump's first term. And that case is set to go to trial in April. NPR's Bobby Allen, thanks for your reporting. Thanks, Steve.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
Quite a bit. Musk's deputies are moving very fast. In just the first two weeks of the Trump administration, they have intervened at the Treasury Department, which, you know, processes trillions of dollars of payments every year. And it's not just Treasury. Doge is involved in the Office of Personnel Management, looking for ways to slash the federal payroll.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
They're analyzing the government's real estate holdings. In sum, Doge... at the direction of Musk, is barreling into vast swaths of the federal government and promising to divide and conquer what he sees as the deep state. Not that unlike the way Musk bulldozed Twitter, and then when he purchased it, of course, he renamed it X. I would not say that this has been the most transparent effort.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
Yeah, well, in Congress, Republicans have been mostly quiet, but Democrats are sounding the alarm. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called Doge, quote, a shadow government conducting a hostile takeover. Sharp words. And that gets at one of the questions Doge is facing. Can Musk legally have this much access and control over the federal government?
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
And then there are other questions, Steve, about whether Doge creates conflicts of interest, because as we know, Musk runs six companies, including rocket company SpaceX, electric vehicle company Tesla. while Musk is also a senior advisor to President Trump. And we learned just yesterday that the White House has made Musk a special government employee.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
It's essentially a temporary government job. It can't run longer than 130 days. And Doge itself was stood up as a temporary organization to radically cut costs in government. But Musk's exact remit is kind of unknown. It's a little murky. Government watchdogs, though, are worried he is going to operate with no guardrails.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
Now, President Trump said Musk is acting only with the explicit approval of the White House and that, quote, where we think there's a conflict or a problem, we won't let him go near it. That's what Trump said recently. But experts I spoke to aren't so sure. Richard Painter was the White House's top ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
And Painter says the level of access Musk seems to have sure does look like there are very few checks on him.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
So unprecedented is a word very much overused in this political moment. But Painter says Doge is indeed charting new territory.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
Yes, Doge has been hit with multiple lawsuits over its legality. The most recent one came yesterday. Unions representing federal employees sued to block Doge's access to the Treasury Department's payment system.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
They're concerned about Musk and his deputies having direct access to millions of people's tax refunds, veterans' benefits, disability checks, and the private information of federal employees. So we will see, Steve, what happens in court, but... Experts tell me that unless a judge steps in, Doge is expected to only grow its presence inside of the federal government.
Up First from NPR
Canada Tariffs, Education Department Targeted, DOGE
Yeah, for some of the agencies in Doge's crosshairs, you know, their opening bid is to completely dismantle the agencies, right? But what may end up happening in the end is just a smaller version of the agencies that Doge is going after. So fewer employees and fewer resources, but still existing in some form. We'll just have to see. NPR's Bobby Allen, thanks so much. Thanks, Steve.
Up First from NPR
Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Good morning.
Up First from NPR
Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Well, in short, because TikTok requested an emergency review. And this is TikTok's last legal shot, right? The company has been fighting a law that is set to take effect on January 19th that bans the app nationwide unless it splits off from its Chinese parent company ByteDance.
Up First from NPR
Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
It recently lost a lower court appeal, and now the Supreme Court has scheduled expedited oral arguments, and the hearing is happening in three weeks. What are the main issues the court is being asked to resolve? Yeah, the case is about the balance between free speech and the possible threat of a foreign adversary.
Up First from NPR
Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
TikTok has long said that the Chinese government doesn't collect data on Americans and does not use the app to push propaganda. But U.S. officials say the risk of that happening is just too high and that the app has to be put out of business unless it sheds its China-based owner. Legal scholars say because of the First Amendment, government restrictions on speech are very hard to uphold in court.
Up First from NPR
Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Usually the government can only suppress speech if it's really narrowly tailored to deal with a really specific problem. And a lower court ruled that the Chinese issue is actually enough to justify the ban. But now the Supreme Court is reviewing it and they could just come down differently.
Up First from NPR
Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Yeah, that's right. The 170 million Americans on the app and actually TikTok's own free speech rights, they say, as a corporation because they have a L.A.-based company. And using the algorithm and pushing content, courts have shown, is another type of free speech. So there's kind of two free speeches at play here.
Up First from NPR
Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
Oh, yeah. Yeah. So if the court overturns the law, you know, business as usual for the app. But if it is upheld, it could mean the app is going away very soon. The law is slated to start, you know, in early January. And at that point, TikTok, you know, will be kicked out of app stores on Apple and Android devices. So you won't be able to download it. And the app will lose web hosting services.
Up First from NPR
Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
So, you know, all the companies that provide back end support for TikTok, they'll have to drop the company. And if this happens, Michelle, it's not like the app's going to disappear from everyone's phone overnight or something. It's just going to get buggy. It's going to get slow. And eventually it's not going to be able to get software updates. So it'll stop working.
Up First from NPR
Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
You know, backing up for a moment here, though, you know, never before has the Supreme Court taken on a case over the U.S. government trying to shut down a massive social media platform. So this is entering some uncharted territory. And, you know, President-elect Donald Trump's administration is watching very closely. And where does Trump stand on this? Trump has given mixed signals on TikTok.
Up First from NPR
Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
He said he wanted to save the app and that he credits it with helping young voters turn out for him. But, you know, just this weekend, he said on NBC's Meet the Press if he will rescue the app. And he gave kind of an unclear, wishy-washy answer. Remember, Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term and was not successful.
Up First from NPR
Supreme Court Hears TikTok Case, Syrians Return Home, French Rape Trial Verdicts
No matter what, the court decides that the Trump administration has a ton of power here. If the Supreme Court upholds his law, his administration will be tasked with interpreting and enforcing it. So if TikTok loses at the Supreme Court, they're hoping Trump will just step in and rescue the app anyway. That is NPR's Bobby Allen. Bobby, thank you. Thanks, Michelle.
Up First from NPR
LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
What are you expecting to hear from each side? TikTok's legal team will be making two arguments, one on behalf of the company and another on behalf of TikTokers, and their case is boiled down to this. Shutting down a massively popular social media platform violates the free speech of TikTok's U.S. corporation and the millions of Americans who use it every day.
Up First from NPR
LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
TikTok plans to argue that it has done quite a bit to distance itself from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance. The Department of Justice is expected to say not so fast. Anything short of completely splitting off from ByteDance poses a risk, and that's because ByteDance's home is... is in China and China is a foreign adversary of the United States.
Up First from NPR
LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
Now, the Justice Department says Americans' personal data on the app is vulnerable and even the possibility, Steve, of China trying to manipulate the views of U.S. citizens is just too risky.
Up First from NPR
LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
We don't know. It's possible that the court will stay the January 19th start date as justices deliberate. Now, the court is here, Steve, really trying to thread a very difficult needle, right? They likely want to make sure the federal government doesn't silence the voices of millions of Americans, but also they want to safeguard against possible covert influence from China. If
Up First from NPR
LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
The Supreme Court upholds the law. Yes, it could start very soon. Apple and Google will then be legally required to remove TikTok from app stores. Web hosting firms like Oracle that support TikTok have to cut ties. It could be the beginning of the end for TikTok. Now, if the Supreme Court strikes down the law, well, then it's just business as usual for the app.
Up First from NPR
LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
he has enormous sway here. In recent months, as you mentioned, Trump has flip-flopped on TikTok, but now the former and future president really might be the decider here because if the Supreme Court decides to uphold this law, who then will be charged with interpreting it? That would be President-elect Trump, and he can tell his Justice Department to just not enforce it, or he can try to cut
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LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
some other deal and say, hey, actually, TikTok is in compliance with the law. So a lot of eyes are on exactly what Trump is going to do here.
Up First from NPR
LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
Yeah, in a number of ways. Some TikTokers are promoting workarounds already if a ban does take place, you know, getting on like a virtual private network to try to circumvent American cell towers. And others are saying, hey, TikTok might be banned soon. So how about you all jump on YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, which, Steve, is another reality of all of this.
Up First from NPR
LA Fires Latest, Trump's Sentencing, TikTok At The Supreme Court
If TikTok is banned, the biggest winners are likely to be Google and Meta. Thanks for that insight. NPR's Bobby Allen, really appreciate it.