TikTok asked a judge to stop the Trump administration from enacting a ban on the Chinese social media network, as the company took a geopolitical fight over technology and commerce to a US courtroom.
TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington late Friday challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order that would prevent US companies from doing business with them.
Trump exceeded his authority when he decided to ban the app, and he did so for political reasons rather than stopping an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the United States, as required by law, according to the complaint. TikTok also said the ban violates the company’s First Amendment free speech rights.
Trump’s actions “would destroy an online community where millions of Americans have come together to express themselves,” according to the complaint. The company also claims that the US Department of Commerce “ignored evidence” showing TikTok’s commitment to the privacy and security of its US users.
Trump issued the order abruptly after stating that TikTok “had no rights” and that he would ban the app if ByteDance did not pay the US To secure government approval of the sale of its US operations, Lo which the president later admitted. it would be illegal, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit comes as Trump steps up his campaign against China, betting that a hard line against Beijing will help him win the November election despite upsetting millions of younger TikTok users. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has urged US companies to ban Chinese apps from their app stores, part of his “Clean Web” guide designed to prevent Chinese authorities from accessing the personal data of US citizens.
The order followed an investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, which reviews proposed acquisitions of domestic companies by foreign investors on national security grounds.
TikTok said it offered alternatives to the president’s ban to address US concerns, but that on Friday the Commerce Department “ordered the destruction of TikTok in the United States.”
Any lawsuit challenging such executive orders will face an uphill fight, according to James Dempsey, executive director of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology at the University of California at Berkeley.
“Courts generally do not review the president’s determinations on national security issues,” Dempsey said before the case was filed.
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