In response to proposed legislation that could lead to the banning of TikTok in the United States, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has initiated a campaign to mobilize public opposition. The controversial bill demands that TikTok find a new owner within 180 days or face a ban until such a change in ownership is realized. The EFF, a leading organization in defending civil liberties in the digital world, argues that the U.S. government has not provided sufficient justification for what it sees as an infringement on the free speech rights of Americans who use TikTok, nor the implications of a forced sale.

According to Jason Kelley of the EFF’s Activism Team, the push for a ban is rooted in concerns over national security threats posed by the potential sharing of private user data with foreign governments. However, Kelley argues that the legislation will not effectively address these concerns.

“The bill’s sponsors have argued that the amount of private data available to and collected by the companies behind TikTok and other applications — and in theory, shared with a foreign government — makes them a national security threat. But this bill won’t stop this data sharing. Instead, it will reduce our rights online,” Kelley stated.

The EFF’s campaign, encapsulated in the rallying cry “Tell Congress: Stop the TikTok Ban,” emphasizes that user data will continue to be collected and sold by numerous platforms, including potentially TikTok itself post-sale. The EFF argues that the solution is not a ban but rather the enactment of robust consumer data privacy laws that prevent the collection of personal data in the first place.

The organization also pointed to a recent legal precedent, highlighting that a court had previously blocked a TikTok ban in Montana on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment rights of users and the company.

“Last year the courts even blocked a TikTok ban from going into effect in Montana, ruling that the state law violated users’ and the company’s First Amendment rights,” Kelley noted, suggesting that similar legal challenges could arise if the current bill were to pass. The EFF’s campaign thus calls for a shift in focus from banning specific apps to addressing the broader issue of privacy invasions, urging Congress to tackle the real problem by creating comprehensive consumer data privacy legislation.