Many American civil liberties organizations think that the the ban is a free speech issue:

https://action.aclu.org/send-message/tell-congress-no-tiktok...

https://www.thefire.org/news/fire-scotus-tiktok-ban-violates...

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/01/eff-statement-us-supre...

It seems to me that they aren't "pretending" they honestly believe the issue is about free speech. Laws that does not explicitly curtail free speech but effectively still does just that can certainly be created.