The Justice Department on Friday night asked a federal court to reject a bid to overturn a law that would have banned TikTok, citing national security concerns that include using its internal search engine to gather information about users’ opinions on sensitive topics. It comes as an answer An attempt to challenge the law, which requires its China-based parent company ByteDance to sell the app, would otherwise be banned in the US. The law was passed in April.
In one filing with the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the DOJ says that a search tool within Lark, the company’s web-based support system used by its employees to communicate, “allowed employees of ByteDance and TikTok in the United States and China. collect bulk user data based on user content or expressions, including opinions on gun control, abortion, and religion.” The DOJ also alleges in its filing that TikTok could be used to subject US users to content manipulation and that their sensitive information could be stored on servers in China.
TikTok has repeatedly denied accusations that it is a threat to national security and has called efforts to ban it “unconstitutional.” In its latest statement responding to the DOJ’s appeal, published in X. “Nothing in this brief changes the fact that the Constitution is on our side.”
