US DOJ tells court to reject TikTok challenge to crackdown law
Corrects headline to add dropped space, no change to story text
By David Shepardson
July 26 (Reuters) -The Justice Department late on Friday asked a U.S. appeals court to reject legal challenges to a law requiring China-based ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. assets by Jan. 19 or face a ban.
TikTok and parent company ByteDance and a group of TikTok creators have filed suits toblock the law that could ban the app used by 170 million Americans.
The Justice Department will detail wide-ranging national security concerns about ByteDance's ownership of TikTok.
The government is also filing a classified document with the court that will detail additional security concerns about ByteDance's ownership of TikTok as well as declarations from the FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Justice Department's National Security Division, a senior official said.
The Justice Department will argue TikTok under Chinese ownership poses a serious national security threat to Americans because of its access to vast personal data of Americans and will argue China can covertly manipulate information that Americans consume via TikTok, a Justice Department official said.
Signed by President Joe Biden on April 24, the law gives ByteDance until Jan. 19 to sell TikTok or face a ban. The White House says it wants to see Chinese-based ownership ended on national security grounds, but not a ban on TikTok.
The department is rejecting all of the arguments raised by TikTok, including that the law violates the First Amendment free speech rights of Americans that use the short video app, saying the law is aimed at addressing national security concerns, not speech and is aimed at China's ability to exploit Tiktok to access Americans sensitive personal information, a senior Justice Department official said.
The government will tell the court that TikTok's efforts to protect U.S. user data are insufficient.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hold oral arguments on the legal challenge on Sept. 16, putting the fate of TikTok in the middle of the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has joined TikTok and told an interviewer in June he would never support a TikTok ban. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running for president, joined TikTok this week.
The law prohibits app stores like Apple AAPL.O and Alphabet's Google GOOGL.O from offering TikTok and bars internet hosting services from supporting TikTok unless it is divested by ByteDance.
Driven by worries among U.S. lawmakers that China could access data on Americans or spy on them with the app, the measure was passed overwhelmingly in the U.S. Congress just weeks after being introduced.
Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sandra Maler
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
