Written in GLOBAL he 5/7/2024 · 3:59 p.m.
Washington, DC.- TikTok followed through on its threats on Tuesday and filed a lawsuit in a court in the District of Columbia, with the intention of blocking a US law that could force the popular application to be banned nationwide.
The company had warned that it would take legal action in April, after the United States Congress approved this law that requires ByteDancea Chinese technology conglomerate, to sell the social network’s operations in the North American country or face a ban on operating.
“Congress has taken the unprecedented step of expressly singling out and banning TikTok: a vibrant online forum for debate and protected expression used by 170 million Americans to create, share, and view videos over the Internet,” the lawsuit states.
The company alleges that the ‘Protect Americans from Apps Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act’, which will force TikTok to shut down in the country by January 19, 2025, is “an extraordinary and unconstitutional assertion of power.”
On April 24, it was announced that ByteDance had 270 days to find an investor from a country other than a “foreign adversary” to sell the company to, something it has refused to do.
The legal document adds that if the law is followed, the consequences would be “fundamentally contrary to the Constitution’s commitment to freedom of expression and individual liberty.”
Therefore, it asks the court to issue a ruling declaring that said law violates the US Constitutionan order prohibiting the attorney general from applying it, ruling in his favor and granting him “any other appropriate relief.”
Congressmen from both parties and officials in the Biden Administration assured in April that China can obtain information about users in the United States from ByteDance and use its influence over public opinion, manipulating what users see on the platform.
