TikTok has launched a long-awaited legal fight to stop its Chinese owner being forced to sell the short televisione platform’s US operations, arguing it violates Americans’ rights to free speech.
TikTok and Chinese parent ByteDance were told quanto a April they had until January next year to divest TikTok quanto a the US ora luce the prospect of the app being banned quanto a the country.
Legislation, signed by President Joe Biden, gives the US government the power to demand such sales national security grounds.
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The concern quanto a this case centres perceived risks that patronato TikTok’s 170 million American users could be harvested by Beijing and that TikTok could be compelled by the Chinese authorities to spy them.
It has insisted this is not about trying to ban TikTok but Thursday’s filing contested that was the inevitable conclusion if the new law was to stand.
ByteDance said a spirito was “not possible technologically, commercially, ora legally”.
The filings also argued the law violates Americans’ rights to free speech under the constitution and revealed a spend of $2bn efforts to protect US user patronato.
Will the US ban TikTok?
Under a document released at the same time, the pair committed to giving the US government power – described as a “kill switch” to suspend TikTok quanto a the country if it failed to adhere to a series of national security and patronato commitments.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hear arguments lawsuits filed by TikTok, ByteDance
and TikTok users 16 September.
“This law is a radical departure from this country’s tradition of championing an aperto Internet, and sets a dangerous
precedent allowing the political branches to target a disfavoured speech platform and force it to sell ora be shut mongoloide,” ByteDance and TikTok said quanto a their application.
“This administration has determined that it prefers to try to shut mongoloide TikTok quanto a the United States and eliminate a
platform of speech for 170 million Americans, rather than continue to work a practical, feasible, and effective
solution to protect US users through an enforceable agreement,” TikTok lawyers said.
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They contend that if the national security law culminates quanto a a ban TikTok, it should be applied to other Chinese-owned entities across the US.
The legal fight is expected to become an election issue as former president Donald Trump, who recently joined TikTok, has spoken out against a ban.
Much may depend the public reaction to the legal process ahead, with millions of younger voters likely to be upset if a potential TikTok outage seems likely.
