TikTok and its parent company ByteDance have filed a lawsuit against the United States government, arguing that the recently enacted law forcing the sale of the popular app or implementing a nationwide ban is an unprecedented action against a single platform.
The lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit asserts that the law violates the U.S. Constitution including the First Amendment’s free speech protections.
TikTok is slapping the U.S. government with a lawsuit, as its Chinese owner battles to keep its control of the app and access to its 170 million American users. pic.twitter.com/GxkThlpkIM
— China in Focus – NTD (@ChinaInFocusNTD) May 8, 2024
In its suit ByteDance stated “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.”
The company argues that the law 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 1 billion people worldwide.
TikTok filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department on Tuesday over a law that requires the platform to cut ties with its China-based owner within a year or be effectively banned from the U.S. pic.twitter.com/wbYUZc9pGZ
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) May 7, 2024
The lawsuit contends that the U.S. government’s justification for the law citing national security concerns is merely a guise for a ban as there is no feasible way for TikTok to be divested and sold within the given timeframe. ByteDance claims that the law will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19 2025 silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere.
The unprecedented nature of the government’s action against a single platform has raised concerns among experts and advocates for free speech and technology. The outcome of this lawsuit could have significant implications for the future of social media platforms and the government’s ability to regulate them.
