Document Type
Student Paper
Publication Date
Spring 2026
Recommended Citation
Sharp, Olivia, "The Domestic Mirror: TikTok v. Garland, Data Privacy, and Meaningful Free Expression" (2026). Colorado Law Student Scholars. 10.
https://scholar.law.colorado.edu/colorado-law-student-scholars/10
COinS
Comments
The Supreme Court’s decision in TikTok Inc. v. Garland rests on a constitutional logic that cannot be confined to foreign actors. Although the Court framed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act as a content-neutral regulation of corporate ownership, the majority’s reasoning turns on a far more consequential premise: that mass behavioral surveillance threatens the expressive “breathing space” the First Amendment requires. If the government has a compelling interest in shielding Americans from pervasive data extraction because such extraction chills expression, influences national discourse, and enables covert content manipulation, then that interest applies regardless of whether the entity conducting the surveillance is headquartered domestically or within the borders of an adversarial nation.