A new law in the United States has been in effect for two weeks, requiring the Chinese company Bytedance to sell its short-video app TikTok. The company has 270 days to do so and is now suing against the new order.
TikTok is taking the US government to court over a law that would force a change in ownership of the popular short-video app. The law violates the freedom of speech enshrined in the US Constitution, argued the subsidiary of the China-based Bytedance company in its filed lawsuit. According to the law, Bytedance has about a year to divest itself of TikTok before the app is banned from app stores in the US. The justification is based on the risk that China could gain access to data from Americans and exert political influence.
The TikTok lawsuit states, among other things, that a separation from Bytedance proposed by the law for the app to remain in the US is "simply not possible," neither commercially, technologically, nor legally. With the lawsuit, TikTok could achieve a stop to the countdown for the duration of the proceedings before an appeals court in the capital Washington.
The law, which came into force about two weeks ago, initially gives Bytedance 270 days to divest itself of TikTok. President Joe Biden can then extend the deadline by three months if there is progress in sales talks. However, TikTok made it clear that from the company's point of view, this would not happen. "The question is beyond doubt: the law will force TikTok to close on January 19, 2025," the lawsuit said. According to media reports, Bytedance does not even plan to negotiate a sale of TikTok.
Bytedance is seen in the US as a Chinese company, across party lines. TikTok counters that Bytedance is 60% owned by Western investors. The company's headquarters is located in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. However, US politicians counter that the Chinese founders, thanks to higher voting rights, hold control with a 20% stake and that Bytedance's headquarters is in Beijing, where it cannot escape the influence of the authorities.
It is unclear whether the law can withstand scrutiny in US courts. An earlier threat of a ban during the tenure of Biden's predecessor Donald Trump had already failed there, and a similar law in the state of Montana was recently put on hold because of possible violations of the freedom of speech enshrined in the US Constitution. TikTok has 170 million users in the US, according to its own figures.
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