TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, have initiated legal action against the United States, challenging a law that seeks to ban the popular video-sharing app unless it is sold to another company.
They argue that the law unjustly portrays TikTok as a national security threat to circumvent the protections provided by the First Amendment.
This anticipated lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, is likely to trigger a lengthy legal battle over TikTok’s future in the United States, potentially reaching the Supreme Court. In the event of an unfavorable outcome, TikTok claims it will be compelled to cease operations next year.
The company contends that the law, included within a $95 billion US foreign aid package signed by President Joe Biden, is so clearly unconstitutional that its sponsors are attempting to present it as a regulation on TikTok’s ownership rather than an outright ban.
This marks the first instance in which the U.S. government has specifically targeted a social media company for potential prohibition, a practice more commonly associated with repressive regimes like Iran or China, as highlighted by advocates for free speech.
“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,” ByteDance said in its suit.
“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 one billion people worldwide.”
ByteDance is mandated by law to divest the platform within nine months. If a sale is underway, an additional three months will be granted to finalize the transaction. ByteDance has explicitly stated that it currently has no intentions to sell TikTok.
However, even if ByteDance decided to sell, approval from Beijing would be necessary. Beijing had previously objected to a forced sale of the platform and has reiterated its opposition in this instance.
TikTok and ByteDance contended in the legal dispute that they are not truly being provided with a 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,” they said.
Under the act, TikTok will be forced to shut down by Jan. 19, 2025, according to the lawsuit. The parties argued that they should be protected by the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of expression.
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