Earlier this month, TikTok threatened to sue President Trump over the executive order he signed that bans the popular video sharing app in the United States. On Saturday, TikTok and its parent company ByteDance officially announced plans to follow through with legal action against the Trump administration.
“Even though we strongly disagree with the [Trump] administration’s concerns, for nearly a year we have sought to engage in good faith to provide a constructive solution,” the company said in a statement, per Complex. “What we encountered instead was a lack of due process as the administration paid no attention to facts and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses. To ensure that the rule of law prevails and that our company and users are treated fairly, we have no choice but to challenge the executive order through the judicial system.”
Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 6 that blocks Americans and companies from making transactions with ByteDance, the Chinese company that owns TikTok.
The ban goes into effect 45 days from when the ordered was signed unless Microsoft or some other American company buys the app.
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In a letter to congressional leaders, Trump said that TikTok’s “data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information — potentially allowing China to track the locations of Federal employees and contractors, build dossiers of personal information for blackmail, and conduct corporate espionage.”
“TikTok also reportedly censors content that the Chinese Communist Party deems politically sensitive, such as content concerning protests in Hong Kong and China’s treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities,” Trump wrote. “TikTok may also be used for disinformation campaigns that benefit the Chinese Communist Party.”
TikTok slammed Trump’s executive order as “undermining the rule of law.”
“We are shocked by the recent Executive Order, which was issued without any due process,” the company wrote in a statement Friday morning. “For nearly a year, we have sought to engage with the US government in good faith to provide a constructive solution to the concerns that have been expressed. What we encountered instead was that the Administration paid no attention to facts, dictated terms of an agreement without going through standard legal processes, and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses.”
Microsoft is in talks to buy TikTok, and said it would close negotiations by September 15.
Twitter is also reportedly interested in buying the app.
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