9-5-2024 (WASHINGTON) Alleging violations of free speech rights enshrined in the First Amendment, TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance have filed a lawsuit in a federal court, seeking to block a newly enacted law that could force the sale or a nationwide ban of the immensely popular short-form video app.
In the legal petition filed on Wednesday, the companies argue that the law “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 TikTok lawsuit challenges the law on constitutional grounds, citing commercial, technical, and legal obstacles, as well as opposition from Beijing, to the proposed divestiture of the app’s US operations.
“Divestiture is simply not possible,” the petition claims, “especially within 270 days.” According to the filing, the Chinese government “has made clear that it would not permit a divestiture of the recommendation engine that is a key to the success of TikTok in the United States.”
In an unprecedented move, the companies assert, “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 one billion people worldwide.”
The US Justice Department declined to comment on the legal challenge.
TikTok’s petition, filed with a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., seeks a court order preventing the US government from enforcing the law, which was signed by President Joe Biden less than two weeks ago after overwhelmingly passing through Congress. However, Biden could extend the January deadline by three months.
Lawmakers cited national security concerns related to TikTok’s Chinese ownership as the driving force behind the legislation, alleging that the app could turn over sensitive data about Americans or be used to spread propaganda.
“Congress and the executive branch have concluded, based on both publicly available and classified information, that TikTok poses a grave risk to national security and the American people,” said John Moolenaar, the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, in a statement. “It is telling that TikTok would rather spend its time, money and effort fighting in court than solving the problem by breaking up with the CCP. I’m confident that our legislation will be upheld.”
TikTok maintains that it has never been asked to provide US user data to the Chinese government and would not comply if asked. ByteDance has stated that it will not sell its US operations.
Previous efforts to restrict TikTok in the US have been struck down by the courts, and legal experts predict that the high-stakes legal battle will likely reach the Supreme Court, with an uncertain outcome.
“There is rather limited directly relevant precedent,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond.
While the law implicates free speech rights, “the national security justification is reasonably strong and courts are likely to take it very seriously,” according to Justin “Gus” Hurwitz, a senior fellow at the Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition at Penn Carey Law.
Free speech advocacy groups have lent their support to TikTok’s legal challenge. “Restricting citizens’ access to media from abroad is a practice that has long been associated with repressive regimes, so it’s sad and alarming to see our own government going down this road. TikTok’s challenge to the ban is important, and we expect it to succeed,” said Jameel Jaffer, executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.
