Digital Rights Seeking Balance: TikTok Ban Begins, Meta Faces $1.3B EU Fine, FTC Warns Against Censorship

Digital rights faced unprecedented attacks recently-2025, with TikTok banned nationwide January 19, 2025 due to data collection concerns, though services resumed after Trump's 75-day enforcement halt.

Meta faced massive $1.3 billion EU privacy fine for transferring European user data to the United States without adequate protection, representing largest privacy penalty in history.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson warned companies against censoring Americans or weakening data security at foreign governments' behest, specifically criticizing EU Digital Services Act and UK Online Safety Act for incentivizing worldwide speech censorship.

Internet shutdowns reached crisis levels: 312 shutdowns across 58 countries currently year-to-date, with $9.2 billion projected global economic cost as governments silence digital dissent.

Platform censorship expanded through algorithm discrimination, with racial bias in content moderation, political viewpoint suppression, and economic harm from reduced reach affecting millions of users.

FTC enforcement targeted data brokers: settlements with X-Mode, InMarket Media, Mobilewalla, and Gravy Analytics for unlawful location data collection, sale, and use, while challenging categorization of consumers based on medical conditions, religious beliefs, and political activities.

However, federal privacy legislation failed again as American Privacy Rights Act (APRA) didn't pass 118th Congress, leaving comprehensive privacy protection gap while 8 new state laws take effect currently.

COPPA enforcement against TikTok alleged platform allowed children under 13 to bypass age verification, while FTC's tech censorship inquiry through May 2025 examines how platforms deny services based on speech content.