TikTok plans to file a federal lawsuit Tuesday to challenge President Trump’s executive order banning the U.S. video sharing service from being unconstitutional, National Public Radio reported.
The lawsuit will be filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, where the U.S. operations of TikTok are based, NPR said, naming a person familiar with the case who did not identify them. It will claim that the president’s action is unconstitutional because it failed to give the company a chance to respond and that the direction of the US Government’s national security direction for the order is fundamental, according to the report.
Chinese-owned TikTok responded Friday in a blog post that it is “shocked” and will follow all available remedies, including in U.S. courts. A spokeswoman for the company on Saturday declined to comment on the NPR report and referred to the previous blog post.
Trump on Thursday signed executive orders banning U.S. residents and businesses from doing business with TikTok and Tencent Holdings ‘WeChat apps, effective in 45 days, citing the national security risk of exposing Americans’ personal data.
Trump made the mandate under a 1977 law allowing the U.S. president to declare a national declaration of emergency in response to an “unusual and extraordinary threat,” allowing him to block transactions and seize property.
The president has stepped up his campaign against China, betting that a hard line will help him win the November elections despite millionaire younger TikTok users.
