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Tiktok is taking US law to court
A new law that came into force in the USA initially gives Bytedance 270 days to separate from Tiktok. photo
© Robert Michael/dpa
As expected, Tiktok is taking action against the threat of a ban in the USA. The makers of the short video app primarily refer to the freedom of speech enshrined in the US Constitution.
The Tiktok lawsuit states, among other things, that a proposed separation from Bytedance to remain in the USA is “simply not possible”, neither commercially, technologically nor legally. With the lawsuit before an appeals court in the capital Washington, Tiktok could have the countdown to the time of the proceedings stopped.
Forced closure of Tiktok on January 19, 2025
The law, which came into force around two weeks ago, initially gives Bytendance 270 days to separate from Tiktok. President Joe Biden can then extend the deadline by another three months if there are signs of progress in the sales talks. But Tiktok made it clear that from the company’s perspective this would not happen. “There is no question: the law will force Tiktok to close on January 19, 2025,” the lawsuit said. According to media reports, Bytedance does not even plan to negotiate a sale of Tiktok.
60 percent Western investors
Bytedance is seen as a Chinese company across all parties in the USA. Tiktok counters that Bytedance is 60 percent owned by Western investors. The company headquarters are on the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. However, US politicians counter that the Chinese founders maintained control thanks to higher voting rights with a share of 20 percent and that Bytedance’s headquarters are in Beijing, where they cannot escape the influence of the authorities.
At the same time, Tiktok itself pointed out in the lawsuit that the Chinese government wanted to block a sale of the recommendation software developed in China as the core of the app. The algorithm decides which video will be shown next and reacts very sensitively to, among other things, how long you watch a clip on a certain topic.
It is unclear whether the law can stand up in US courts. An earlier ban threat during the term of office of Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump failed there, and a similar law in the state of Montana was recently shelved due to possible violations of the freedom of expression enshrined in the US Constitution.
According to its own information, Tiktok has 170 million users in the USA.