United States: The owner of the social media site TikTok, ByteDance, has sued the US government in an attempt to overturn a bill that would require it to sell off its US holdings.
ByteDance’s attorneys argued that the law was “obviously unconstitutional” when they filed the complaint in the US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.
Less than two weeks ago, on April 24, President Joe Biden signed the legislation as part of a package that also contained humanitarian help for Gaza and foreign aid to Israel and Ukraine.
ByteDance is given nine months by law to sell off its US business. The deadline is January 19, although if a sale is underway, there is a possibility of an additional three-month extension.
However, ByteDance claims in its lawsuit that divestiture will not be feasible in the given time period – “not legally, not technologically, nor commercially.”
Additionally, it claims that legislation that infringes against the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees free speech, is unfairly targeting it.
“For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that 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,” the lawsuit reads.
Although ByteDance insisted that it had no intention of selling TikTok, the well-known video-sharing software, it stated that it would not even be possible to do so legally.
The lawsuit stated that millions of lines of code would need to change hands and that any potential owners would need to access ByteDance’s algorithms in order to maintain it, which would be illegal.
Politicians in the US have criticized TikTok from both parties due to worries about the app’s potential effects on national security.
ByteDance is a Chinese technology business, and some of its detractors worry that the Chinese government would ask to see the data it gathers from consumers, so creating privacy issues.
Members of the US Congress, such as Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, stated that the April bill is therefore required to safeguard US users.
ByteDance has openly promised not to give any information about US customers to the Chinese government and has long denied providing any such information, dismissing any fears as “speculative.”
The lawsuit also mentions the company’s $2 billion investment in safeguarding user data in the United States and its obligations under a 90-page proposed “National Security Agreement” with the US government.
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