TikTok files legal document defying ban

TikTok argued in a legal document filed on Thursday that the new law potentially banning the app from the United States is unconstitutional and should be overturned.

TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, filed the lawsuit last month against the U.S. government, shortly after President Biden signed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversaries Act. In his first legal summaries, TikTok’s lawyers argued that the law is “unprecedented” and violates the First Amendment.

“This law constitutes a radical departure from this country’s tradition of championing an open Internet and sets a dangerous precedent that allows political branches to target a disfavored speech platform and force it to sell or shut down,” the legal document states.

“The Constitution does not allow Congress to single out a speech platform, make no conclusions, announce justifications, ignore less restrictive alternatives, and discriminate based on speaker and content. The law is unconstitutional and should be prohibited,” the document continues.

The bipartisan legislation gives ByteDance 270 days to sell TikTok to a new company that will be allowed to operate it in the US. Otherwise, the app will be banned from US networks and online app stores under the new law.

The 99-page legal document argues that a divestment could take years. It also rejected the law that singled out TikTok over other apps.

The lawyers said the bill “ignores many apps with substantial operations in China that collect large amounts of U.S. user data, as well as the many U.S. companies that develop software and employ engineers in China, all of which represent the same supposed risks.”

They also filed a draft of a national security agreement offered the US government in 2022 that aimed to address some of its concerns. The legal document noted that the agreement was never signed, but that TikTok has begun implementing some of the measures outlined in the agreement.

The legal brief said the agreement would “protect against foreign manipulation of TikTok content, including through third-party monitoring of TikTok’s content moderation practices, recommendation engine, and other source code.”

The Hill has reached out to the Justice Department for comment.

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