"TikTok sues to block US law that could ban app" 8 May 2024

TikTok has filed a lawsuit aiming to block a US law that would ban the video app in the country unless it is sold by its Chinese parent company.

In the filing, the social media company called the act an "extraordinary intrusion on free speech rights" of the company and its 170 million American users. It said the US had put forward only "speculative concerns" to justify the measure and asked the court to stop it...

Under the US law, app stores would be barred from offering TikTok in the US starting in January 2025, unless parent company ByteDance found a buyer. President Biden could extend that deadline by 90 days if talks are making progress.

In the filing with the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday, TikTok said the sale requirement was "simply not possible...It said the measure had unfairly singled out TikTok...It said it had spent more than $2bn in an effort to address US concerns, creating safeguards on US data.

Jacob Helberg, who leads a committee charged by Congress with monitoring the national security implications of US-China trade, said TikTok's investments were viewed in Washington as a "deceptive marketing effort". He said the lawsuit was "unserious" and failed "to address the national security question at hand".

But Ashley Gorski, a senior staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union, said TikTok's lawsuit made a persuasive case that the measure was an effective ban, despite White House claims to the contrary, raising free speech concerns...