TikTok is suing US government over potential ban

TikTok ban on Government phones and devices

TikTok, a short-form social media platform, is suing the US government claiming that a potential ban of the site would violate the First Amendment.

The China-based company specifically names the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act as an unconstitutional law. The legislation was signed by President Joe Biden last month. The lawsuit, which is attempting to stop that law from taking effect, was filed in the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Tuesday.

The bill would make it unlawful for a data broker to sell, license, rent, trade, transfer, release or disclose sensitive data of US residents to the governments of North Korea, China, Russia, Iran or companies controlled by those countries.

ByteDance, the company that owns TikTok, has told the US Congress that it is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government. Still, the company is required to establish a company Communist Party committee made up of employees who are party members.

“Banning TikTok is so obviously unconstitutional, in fact, that even the act’s sponsors recognized that reality, and therefore have tried mightily to depict the law not as a ban at all, but merely a regulation of TikTok’s ownership,” the lawsuit states.

Under the new law, the company would have the option to divest its TikTok businesses or be shut down. However, the lawsuit claims that selling the platform is not technologically, commercially or legally possible.

“There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere,” the suit states.

This is a developing story…

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