TikTok and its Chinese owner ByteDance said they had filed a lawsuit in US federal court to block the law signed by President Joe Biden. The bill requires ByteDance to sell TikTok to a non-Chinese investor. If this is not done, the platform will no longer be available in the United States.
The companies said they filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, arguing that the law violates the U.S. Constitution, including First Amendment protections for free speech. The bill, signed by Biden on April 24, gives Chinese company ByteDance until January 19, 2025 to sell TikTok.
TikTok files a lawsuit
TikTok shared a copy of the lawsuit with Reuters. The lawsuit states that a divestment “is simply impossible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally. There is no doubt: the bill will force TikTok to shut down on January 19, 2025, blocking access to the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in a way that is not possible elsewhere.”
US lawmakers feared that China could access Americans' data or spy on them using apps, so the new law was passed in Congress in just a few weeks. The bill prohibits app stores from offering TikTok and prohibits hosting services from supporting TikTok unless ByteDance divests itself of TikTok by January 19, Reuters pointed out.
The lawsuit said TikTok spent $2 billion to implement measures to protect U.S. users' data and made additional commitments in a 90-page draft national security agreement developed through negotiations with the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS).
Time to sell TikTok
ByteDance has until January 19 to find a new owner for TikTok. If the sales process starts within this period, but the transaction is not finalized, the deadline may be extended by another 90 days. Failure to change the owner of the application within the above period will result in the application being banned in the USA.
TikTok solutions are part of a large package of laws, which includes, among others: long-awaited help for Ukraine.
TikTok may be banned in the US
“For years, we allowed the Chinese Communist Party to control one of the most popular apps in America, which was dangerously shortsighted,” said Marco Rubio, a top GOP senator. – The new law will require the Chinese owner to sell the application. This is a good move for America, he said.
TikTok says it has not and will not share US user data with the Chinese government. At the same time, representatives of the app argued that a potential ban would undermine free speech principles for the 170 million Americans who use TikTok.
The current owner of TikTok has previously emphasized that it is not a Chinese company, pointing out that 60 percent its shares are in the hands of global investment companies.
The American Civil Liberties Union opposes the new law, explaining it as freedom of speech. In her opinion, this may set a “disturbing global precedent related to excessive government control over social media.”
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