Trump Saves TikTok: Is Free Speech Protected or Just Put on Government Lease?
Written by Peter Boykin on September 29, 2025
#GoRightNews Shared by Peter Boykin
American Political Commentator / Citizen Journalist / Activist / Constitutionalist for Liberty
Trump Saves TikTok: Is Free Speech Protected or Just Put on Government Lease?
When Government Regulates a Digital Town Square: Is TikTok a Threat or the 1st Amendment’s New Frontier?
Imagine standing in the center of a town square two centuries ago. Voices rise, arguments clash, pamphlets get passed around, and the government hovers at the edges, sometimes trying to step in. Fast forward to today, and that same square has become TikTok, a digital platform where 170 million Americans debate, joke, organize, and protest. And now, that square isn’t just contested by fellow citizens, but by nations and corporations who hold the keys to its gates.
President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that keeps TikTok alive in the United States, separating its American operations from the Chinese-controlled parent company ByteDance. Under the deal, valued at $14 billion, Oracle, Silver Lake, and UAE’s MGX will control 45% of TikTok U.S. ByteDance retains less than 20%. The key piece? Oracle will rebuild and monitor TikTok’s algorithm, ensuring Chinese access is cut off and user data stays under U.S. oversight.
Vice President J.D. Vance put it plainly:
“We don’t want this used as a propaganda tool by any foreign government. We want to make sure our people and our investors actually make these decisions.”
Constitutional Crossroads: Who Owns the Modern Public Square?
The First Amendment says government shall make no law abridging freedom of speech or assembly. Back in the 18th century, that meant speeches in taverns, sermons in churches, and newspapers on street corners. But what happens when the new “assembly” is digital, algorithm-driven, and owned by foreign adversaries?
Congress already tried to answer this with the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA). The law requires divestment from adversarial control, giving the government power to block apps like TikTok unless they’re sold to American interests. The Supreme Court upheld the law.
So here lies the paradox: the Constitution protects speech, but the government now claims a duty to protect the platform itself from becoming a weapon of foreign influence. Does this preserve liberty, or does it create a precedent where Washington decides which platforms are “safe” for speech? If TikTok today, why not another tomorrow?
Economic Freedom Meets Free Speech
The White House estimates this deal will generate $178 billion in economic activity over four years and sustain thousands of U.S. jobs. That’s not small change, it’s the digital equivalent of building railroads across the continent. Yet for millions of Americans, TikTok isn’t just commerce. It’s expression. It’s assembly. It’s protest.
When Trump credited Charlie Kirk for urging him to join TikTok, he admitted the platform wasn’t just entertainment. It was political organizing. It brought in young voters. That is exactly what the First Amendment envisions: a free and open marketplace of ideas. But in this case, the marketplace is guarded by corporate shareholders and government oversight.
National Security or National Censorship?
Critics warn that labeling apps “propaganda threats” could hand the government a tool to silence speech by labeling platforms unsafe. After all, propaganda is in the eye of the beholder. Today the concern is Chinese influence. Tomorrow, it could be domestic political opposition.
When Oracle takes the reins of TikTok’s algorithm, we must ask: is this safeguarding the Republic, or is it private enterprise becoming the gatekeeper of the First Amendment? If speech happens through algorithms, whoever writes the code shapes the debate. And that raises the biggest constitutional question of all: does the right to free speech extend into the machinery that decides what speech gets seen?
Who Owns the Town Square When Speech Goes Digital?
#GoRight with Peter Boykin Commentary:
Here lies the paradox, and it’s not a small one. The Constitution is crystal clear, government shall make no law abridging freedom of speech. That’s not a suggestion. That’s not a maybe. That’s the First Amendment. The foundation. The anchor.
But now, government is saying something new: we must protect the very platform where that speech happens, because otherwise it might be turned into a weapon of foreign influence. And that raises the burning question, does this protect liberty, or does it set the stage for Washington to start deciding which platforms are safe for speech?
Think about it. Today, it’s TikTok. The justification is national security, because China could use the app as a propaganda tool. Fair concern. But what about tomorrow? What happens when Washington decides that another platform, maybe one used mostly by liberals, conservatives or libertarians, is also unsafe? What if the next justification isn’t China, but domestic extremism? You can see the danger. Once you grant the government the power to say, “This platform is acceptable, that one is not,” you have effectively given them the keys to the public square.
And that’s the core of this paradox. The First Amendment wasn’t designed to protect popular speech, or speech the government feels comfortable with. It was written precisely to protect unpopular speech, speech that powerful institutions, whether foreign or domestic, would prefer to silence. If the government now decides which apps can carry that speech, then the line between protection and censorship becomes paper thin.
Let’s remember, platforms like TikTok aren’t just entertainment apps. For millions of Americans, they’re where political debates happen, where organizing happens, where protest movements rise and fall. If the tavern of 1776 has become the feed of 2025, then the stakes are the same. Who controls the tavern? Who controls the feed?
Now, you might say, “Well, isn’t it reasonable to keep Chinese influence out of our elections? Isn’t it smart to protect American data?” Of course. But here’s the danger: when you let the government play bouncer at the door of the digital square, you’re trusting that they’ll only use that power for good. History tells us that governments rarely stop there. Once the power to approve or deny platforms exists, it becomes too tempting to use it against political enemies.
Look at what’s already happening. Laws were passed. Courts upheld them. Companies were forced to restructure. That’s raw government power deciding who gets to own the megaphone of modern speech. Maybe you like the outcome this time, maybe you wanted TikTok out of Chinese hands. But what about the next time, when the government decides your preferred platform is unsafe? Will you still cheer then?
This is where we have to be brutally honest. The Constitution does not bend easily into the digital age, but its principles are timeless. If we let security become the excuse for limiting where Americans can speak, we will lose the very freedom the security is supposed to protect. Liberty isn’t safe. Liberty has never been safe. But it’s always been worth the risk.
So yes, today TikTok survives under American oversight. Tomorrow, another platform may not. The precedent has been set. And the real question for us, for every American, is simple: are we willing to trade control of the digital town square for the illusion of safety? Because once that trade is made, once Washington becomes the arbiter of which voices are allowed and which platforms are sanctioned, the First Amendment stops being a guarantee and starts being a permission slip.
And the last time I checked, freedom in this Republic isn’t supposed to come with a permission slip.
Trump’s TikTok deal might save the app, but at what cost? This Go Right News analysis breaks down how the Constitution collides with technology, free speech, and national security in the age of digital platforms.
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