TikTok to sue Trump administration over ban

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• TikTok on Saturday announced that it will sue the Trump administration over an executive order that seeks to ban the app in the US unless it is sold to an American buyer.
• The video app said that it attempted to talk with the US government on a solution but the “administration paid no attention.”
• President Trump alleged in the executive order that TikTok “continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”

Tiktok said that it plans to file a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order that would effectively ban TikTok unless it is sold to an American buyer. The video app is owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance. TikTok will file the lawsuit against the US administration this coming week.

Trump’s moves against the short-form video app came during the U.S. government’s rising trade tensions with China. In the Aug. 6 executive order, Trump claimed that TikTok “continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States” based on the possibility that Chinese authorities could force the app to reveal user data.

In a statement released Saturday, TikTok said, “Even though we strongly disagree with the [Trump] administration’s concerns, for nearly a year we have sought to engage in good faith to provide a constructive solution. What we encountered instead was a lack of due process as the administration paid no attention to facts and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses.”

TikTok added, “To ensure that the rule of law prevails and that our company and users are treated fairly, we have no choice but to challenge the Executive Order through the judicial system.” TikTok has said it has never provided data on U.S. users to China’s government and would refuse to if asked.

The executive order bans any business dealing with TikTok by any entity (or involving any property) subject to U.S. jurisdiction by Sept. 20. Tencent’s WeChat was also subjected to a similar order from Trump.

On Aug. 14, a separate executive order issued by Trump set a 90-day deadline for ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. assets. The same order was based in allegations of protecting U.S. national security interests, officially forces the unwinding of ByteDance’s 2017 acquisition of Muiscal.ly, which ByteDance migrated to TikTok in 2018.

Reuters first reported TikTok’s plans to challenge the Trump ban legally.

Microsoft confirmed earlier this month that it was in talks to buy TikTok. Other American buyers reportedly interested in the app include Twitter and software giant Oracle.

President Trump has repeatedly said that the U.S. government should have a cut of the proceeds of any sale of TikTok. Experts, however, assert there’s no legal precedent for that. According to Reuters,  TikTok has been valued at about $50 billion by a group of U.S.-based ByteDance investors, Reuters reported.

Source: AOL