TikTok files lawsuit against Trump administration challenging US ban

Washington D.C.: ByteDance, the owner of TikTok on Monday (local time) said it has sued the Donald Trump administration, to challenge a ban on the Chinese video-sharing app in the country.

“We do not take suing the government lightly, however, we feel we have no choice but to take action to protect our rights, and the rights of our community and employees,” ByteDance said in a statement, reported Sputnik.

“We strongly disagree with the [Trump] administration’s position that TikTok is a national security threat and we have articulated these objections previously,” it said.

On August 6, Trump signed an executive order banning any US transactions with ByteDance, set to take effect in 45 days. On August 14, the US President issued another executive order, requiring ByteDance to divest its interests in TikTok’s operations in the US within 90 days.

US firms including Oracle and Microsoft are among those in talks to buy TikTok’s US assets.

The lawsuit also said the Trump administration ignored the great lengths TikTok went to demonstrate its commitment to serving the US market, including more than 1,500 employees across the United States, reported Sputnik.

As per the report, the company also said in the lawsuit that the US president’s demands have no relationship to any conceivable national security concern and serve only to underscore that it failed to provide a due process required by law.

Source: ANI