TikTok to fight Trump over pending ban

Video app TikTok is suing the Trump Administration over its efforts to ban the popular Chinese-owned service over national-security concerns.

TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, insisted Monday that it is not a national-security threat and that the government is acting without evidence or due process. The company filed suit Monday in federal court in California against the Commerce Department, President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, saying that it sought to prevent the government from “impermissibly banning” TikTok.

President Donald Trump has issued two executive orders in August, first a sweeping but unspecified ban on any “transaction” with ByteDance, to take effect within 45 days. He then ordered ByteDance to sell assets used to support TikTok in the U.S.

Over past year, TikTok has tried to put distance between its app, which it says has 100 million U.S. users, and its Chinese owners. It installed a former top Disney executive as its American CEO and named two other Americans chief security officer and general counsel. TikTok also said it is willing to sell its U.S. operations and has held talks with Microsoft to buy parts of its English-language app.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have shared concerns about TikTok that ranged from its vulnerability to censorship and misinformation campaigns to the safety of user data and children’s privacy. But the administration has provided no specific evidence that TikTok has made U.S. users’ data available to the Chinese government.