The high-stakes legal battle could determine the future of the popular app in the U.S. TikTok's legal filing calls the ban law an unprecedented violation of First Amendment rights.
TikTok's suit is in response to a law passed by Congress giving ByteDance up to a year to divest from TikTok and find a new buyer, or face a nationwide ban.
"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," according to the legal filing.
According to the filing, the law is based on"speculative and analytically flawed concerns about data security and content manipulation — concerns that, even if grounded in fact, could be addressed through far less restrictive and more narrowly tailored means." Congress has never before passed legislation that could outright ban a wildly popular social media app, an act the U.S. government has criticized authoritarian nations for doing.
One major obstacle in any possible sale of TikTok would be winning the support of China. The country would have to sign off on any purchase of the app, and officials in Beijing are adamantly against any forced sale.
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