TikTok, ByteDance sue to block US law seeking sale or ban

TIKTOK and its Chinese parent company ByteDance sued in United States federal court yesterday seeking to block a law signed by President Joe Biden that would force the divestiture of the short video app used by 170 million Americans or ban it. The companies filed the suit in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, arguing that the law violates the US Constitution on several grounds including running afoul of First Amendment free speech protections.

The law, signed by Biden last month, gives ByteDance until January 19 to sell TikTok or face a ban.

‘‘For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban,’’ the companies said in the lawsuit.

It said the divestiture ‘‘is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally . . . There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere’’.

The White House wants to see Chinesebased ownership ended on national security grounds but not a ban on TikTok.

The measure, driven by worries among US lawmakers that China could access data on Americans or spy on them with the app, was passed overwhelmingly in Congress just weeks after being introduced. TikTok has denied that it has or ever would share US user data, accusing lawmakers in the lawsuit of advancing ‘‘speculative’’ concerns. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the top Democrat on a House committee on China, said the legislation is ‘‘the only way to address the national security threat posed by ByteDance’s ownership of apps like TikTok’’. — Reuters