Last week, a federal appeals court ruled that the TikTok ban passed by Congress should stand. But on behalf of our coalition of racial and social justice coalitions, our message to public opinion is clear: It’s time for the TikTok ban to be lifted, period.

In late June, our organizations — and others in a diverse coalition of nonprofits representing Latino, AAPI, Muslim, Native American, Sikh, and South Asian American communities — filed a “friend of the court” petition. Amicus Curiae briefly in the lawsuit challenging the TikTok ban, a congressional bill that threatens to effectively ban TikTok in the United States.

Why did we comment on this ban? One reason is that it hinders our ability as nonprofits to reach America’s marginalized communities, whose perspectives are often left out in traditional media. One of our organizations – the Muslim Public Affairs Council – works to increase understanding and improve policies that impact Muslim Americans so that our community is seen, heard and understood from Washington to Hollywood.

TikTok is undoubtedly one of our most powerful tools. It democratizes social media and provides opportunities for the incredibly diverse Muslim-American community in the United States to connect with the broader American public in ways that other social media platforms simply cannot.

The reality is that so many young people – racial and religious minorities, other marginalized groups of every color and stripe – have found a home online on TikTok. It has become a unique forum for diverse people to express themselves, learn about “taboo” topics, advocate for causes – and for some, to make a living. And that’s why this ban exists So unpopular among young Americans, especially ethnic minorities.

Actually, one recent poll of young American voters of color found that they wanted the president to find a compromise that would allow TikTok to continue with a full 42% margin. Why isn’t our government listening?

The other big problem is that (as this court case has shown) The TikTok ban and the Justice Department’s secretive approach stoking fears about national security aren’t really protecting us. According to the bill’s supporters TikTok allegedly transmits all kinds of user data to the Chinese government.

But in court filings, the Justice Department itself admitted that U.S. intelligence has “no information” that China has always used TikTok to “exert foreign influence over U.S. persons and collect sensitive data from U.S. persons.” So we’re talking about singling out an app and silencing tens of millions of American users because of a hypothetical threat to national security?

That simply sounds like scaremongering – and the federal government has a terrible record when it comes to scaremongering about “national security.” Hypothetical threats to national security led to thousands of Japanese Americans being forced into internment camps during World War II.

After the September 11 attacks, we saw how President George W. Bush’s National Security Entry-Exit Registration System program used “national security” to target tens of thousands of Muslim and South Asian immigrants for deportation, and how Congress attempted to introduce bills such as the “Jihad Prevention Act” and the “Foreign Law Ban” into law. The long-term impact was that there were Muslim communities deeply harassedwith the conclusion that Muslim Americans – as well as South Asians such as Sikhs and Hindus – are not loyal Americans.

One of our organizations, the South Asian Legal Defense Fund, was founded to stop exactly these types of attacks. In this case, it will be Chinese and Asian Americans who will pay the price for this fear-mongering – communities that have already seen it a huge rise in anti-China sentiment and hate crimes.

The platform isn’t perfect – we’ve dealt with hate, misinformation and online bullying on TikTok. But it is no better or worse than Facebook, Google or other platforms in this respect. So if TikTok is banned, where will our young people go? How will we reach them at a time when 40% of young Americans get their news from TikTok? It won’t be on Facebook or Instagram.

The TikTok ban was pushed through Congress in record time and passed on cheap politics. Regardless of this court’s decision, it is time for our elected voters in Washington to listen to young Americans and put the senseless TikTok ban in its place – in the dustbin of history where it belongs.

Hussain is a senior advisor to the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Parikh is executive director of the South Asian Legal Defense Fund.