TikTok has confirmed that it will sue the US government over the ban on the Chinese app. Any lawsuit, however, does not mean that the company will not be forced to sell the app in the US market.
TikTok had tried to work with the administration to find a solution and address US concerns about the app.
“What we encountered was a lack of due process, as management did not pay attention to the facts and tried to introduce negotiations between private businesses,” the company in a statement issued to several media outlets.
“To ensure that the rule of law is not rejected and that our company and users are treated fairly, we have no choice but to challenge the executive order through the court system,” TikTok said.
Donald Trump earlier this month signed two executive orders banning any US transactions with TikTok, its parent company ByteDance and its subsidiaries, as well as with the popular Chinese messaging app WeChat and its parent company Tencent.
The US President claimed that the apps developed in China threatened his country’s national security, foreign policy and economy. “TikTok automatically collects a wealth of information from its users, including internet information, data , browsing and search history,” the President said. “This data collection could allow the Chinese Communist Party to access Americans’ personal information, potentially allowing China to track the locations of federal employees and officers, create dossiers of personal information for blackmail and conduct espionage.”
TikTok reportedly planned to argue in its lawsuit that Trump's first executive order on Aug. 6 prevented the Chinese company from following due process. It also planned to challenge the U.S. government's designation of it as a "national security threat."
The lawsuit does not mean that the company will not be forced to give up its US operations, as outlined in Trump issued on August 14 and not subject to judicial review.
The order gave TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, 90 days to sell its U.S. business. Related discussions have taken place with Microsoft and, more recently, Oracle.
TikTok says 100 million Americans use its platform. A few months ago, the company unveiled new measures it said were aimed at preventing misinformation and content designed to disrupt the upcoming U.S. election. Those measures included updates to its policies that more clearly spell out what is and is not allowed on the platform and allow for broader collaboration with independent agencies and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (to verify election-related information, report election-related misinformation, and protect against foreign interference).
TikTok has also denied sharing data user. Finally, the company said it is willing to pursue a full sale of its American business to a local (American) company.
