TikTok is suing the U.S. government to block a law that would ban it if parent company ByteDance fails to sell TikTok within a year. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, claims the bill violates the U.S. Constitution. TikTok argues that the law violates the U.S. Constitution's promise to “both free speech and personal liberty.”
“For the first time in history, Congress has imposed a permanent, nationwide ban on a single designated speech platform, allowing all Americans to participate in a unique online community of more than 1 billion people worldwide. and enacted a law prohibiting it,” the lawsuit states. To read. “That law, the Protecting Americans from Regulatory Applications by Foreign Adversaries Act (the “Act”), is unconstitutional. ”
The lawsuit comes two weeks after President Biden signed a bill that includes aid to Ukraine and Israel. The bill gives ByteDance until January 19th to sell its app or face a ban, making the possibility of a TikTok ban more likely than ever.
TikTok claims it has not presented any evidence to support the US government's claims that the app poses a risk to national security.
“The statements made by Congressional committees and individual members during the hasty, closed-door legislative process that preceded the law's enactment confirm that there is, at best, speculation rather than 'evidence' as required by the First Amendment.” “,” the complaint says.
TikTok went on to say that the law effectively calls for a ban on the app, arguing that it would be impossible to sell TikTok within the given 270-day deadline.
“Petitioners have repeatedly briefed the U.S. government on this issue, and the law's proponents were aware that a sale would not be possible,” the complaint states. “There is no question: this law will force the shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, and will protect the 170 million people who use this platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated anywhere else.” Americans will be silenced.”
Even if ByteDance wanted to sell the app, the Chinese government would likely block it because it would need to approve the transfer of TikTok's algorithm. TikTok went on to say that the sale was technically not possible because it would require transferring “millions of lines of software code” to the new owners.
The lawsuit follows four years of allegations by the U.S. government that TikTok's relationship with China poses a national security risk and exposes sensitive information of U.S. citizens to the Chinese government. TikTok has denied these allegations and said it has spent $2 billion to protect the data of its U.S. users.
Lawmakers also argue that TikTok could sway public opinion by deciding what users see in their “For You” feed.
TikTok was considering selling its U.S. operations to a U.S. company when the U.S. government sought to ban it under the Trump administration. Potential candidates included Oracle, Microsoft, and Walmart, but none of these deals materialized. According to the report, ByteDance would rather shut down TikTok than sell it.