In order to avoid an impending ban in the USA, TikTok is going to court: The platform has filed a lawsuit against the law that is intended to force a sale. TikTok and its parent company ByteDance rely on freedom of speech.
The video platform TikTok is suing in the USA against the law that is intended to force a change of ownership of the app. The subsidiary of the China-based ByteDance Group argued that it violated the freedom of speech enshrined in the US Constitution.
The law practically means the end of the platform in the USA, it said. There is talk of a “qualified sale,” which would make it possible to continue operating in the USA. But this sale is “simply not possible: neither commercially, nor technologically, nor legally.” The app will therefore have to be discontinued in the USA by January 19th, according to TikTok. That will “silence the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere.”
Countdown could be stopped
According to the law, ByteDance has around a year to separate from TikTok before the app is banned from app stores in the USA. The justification is based on the risk that China could gain access to Americans’ data and exercise political influence.
With the lawsuit before an appeals court in the capital Washington, TikTok could have the countdown to the trial period stopped. The law, which came into force around two weeks ago, initially gives ByteDance 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.
It is unclear whether the law will stand up in court
ByteDance is viewed across party lines in the USA as a Chinese company. 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.
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.