The Department of Justice has requested an appeals court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging a law that mandates China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. assets by January 19 or risk a ban.
TikTok, along with its parent company ByteDance and a group of TikTok creators, have filed lawsuits to oppose the legislation that could potentially ban the app used by 170 million Americans.
According to a senior Justice Department official, the government will provide classified documents to the court which will outline additional security concerns regarding ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok, along with statements from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Justice Department’s national security division.
The department is expected to argue that Chinese-owned TikTok poses a significant national security risk to the United States due to its access to vast amounts of personal data on American citizens, enabling China to manipulate information used by Americans through the app covertly.
President Joe Biden signed the law on April 24, giving TikTok and ByteDance until January 19 to separate or face a ban. The White House’s stance is to end Chinese ownership for national security reasons without banning TikTok.
The department clarified that the law is aimed at addressing national security concerns rather than speech issues and intends to address China’s potential misuse of TikTok to access sensitive personal information of Americans. It denies all arguments put forth by TikTok, including claims that the law violates the free speech rights under the First Amendment of Americans using the video app.
The government plans to accuse TikTok of insufficiently safeguarding the data of its U.S. users.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is set to hear oral arguments on September 16, placing TikTok’s fate in the midst of the final week of the 2024 presidential election.
Despite previously signing an executive order threatening to ban the app, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stated in an interview in June that he would not support a ban. Additionally, US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running for president, recently joined TikTok.
The law would prevent app stores like Apple and Google from offering TikTok and prohibit internet hosting services from supporting it unless it is divested by ByteDance.
The bill received strong support from the US Congress amid concerns expressed by lawmakers that China might exploit the app to gain access to Americans’ data for spying purposes.
Reuters
Source: www.theguardian.com
