TikTok is officially challenging the law that could lead to a ban on the app in the US. The company, which has long argued that efforts to force it to sell or ban its app are unconstitutional. announced a lawsuit against the federal government.
In the lawsuit, TikTok claims that divesting its business from ByteDance is “simply impossible” and that the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Enemies Controlled Applications Act” violates the First Amendment. “They argue that the law is not a ban because it gives ByteDance a choice: Quit TikTok’s US business or shut down.” states. “But in reality there is no choice. “The ‘qualified divestment’ required by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the US is simply not possible: neither commercially, nor technologically, nor legally.”
The filing is the expected first blow in a long legal battle over the law. passed last month. Under the law, TikTok is given up to a year to split from Chinese parent company ByteDance or be banned from US app stores. However, TikTok’s legal problems could significantly delay this process.
Free speech and digital rights groups also opposed the law, saying it could set a precedent for additional bans. In its lawsuit, TikTok made a similar argument, saying its app posed national security risks. not proven. “If Congress can do that, it can circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the sale of any individual newspaper or website publisher to avoid closure,” he says. “The act does not state any threat posed by TikTok… Even statements by individual members of Congress and a congressional committee report merely express concerns about TikTok.” hypothetical The possibility that TikTok may be misused in the future, without reference to concrete evidence.”
The document also refers to , following negotiations with the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), invested billions of dollars to separate the company’s US user data and other security measures. Those talks eventually stalled, and CFIUS told the company last year that it wanted TikTok From ByteDance.
TikTok says that as part of those talks, it agreed to a “shutdown option” that would “give the government the power to shut down TikTok in the US” if the company violates the terms of the deal. Instead, TikTok says Congress “set aside this tailored agreement” because it was “politically expedient.”
