TikTok sues to block potential US ban on popular app

WASHINGTON (TND) — TikTok and its parent company are suing to block a U.S. law that would force a nationwide ban of the social media app, according to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden signed legislation, which has been dubbed the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, in April. It gives TikTok's China-based parent company, ByteDance, nine months to sell it or face a nationwide prohibition in the U.S.

Biden, as well as many lawmakers across America, have called the social media site a national security concern, which ByteDance denies.

They claim that the Act is not a ban because it offers ByteDance a choice: divest TikTok’s U.S. business or be shut down," the lawsuit notes. "But in reality, there is no choice. The 'qualified divestiture' demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally. And certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act. Petitioners have repeatedly explained this to the U.S. government, and sponsors of the Act were aware that divestment is not 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 lawsuit calls the potential ban "so obviously unconstitutional" and argues it is unfair to millions of Americans who use the platform.

Congress has taken the unprecedented step of expressly singling out and banning TikTok: a vibrant online forum for protected speech and expression used by 170 million Americans to create, share, and view videos over the Internet," the lawsuit notes. "For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide."

In response to the lawsuit, Sen. Mark Warner, who represents Virginia, said the legal challenge is "no surprise."

As I think the DC Circuit will see, however, the law does not amount to a ban of the service, but rather an effort to address its foreign ownership -- rooted in decades-long national security interest in ensuring that core communications infrastructure is not vulnerable to foreign manipulation," Warner told WSET.

The legislation notes that the prohibition does not apply to an application that is primarily used to post product reviews, business reviews, or travel information and reviews.

"The bill authorizes the Department of Justice to investigate violations of the bill and enforce the bill's provisions. Entities that violate the bill are subject to civil penalties based on the number of users," according to the legislation. "The bill requires a covered application to provide a user with all available account data (including posts, photos, and videos) at the user's request before the prohibition takes effect."

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EDITOR'S NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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