TikTok is moving to court to block President Trump’s executive order banning its operations in the United States. According to sources familiar with the matter, the video-sharing app will file the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, where its American operations are based.
In the lawsuit, TikTok will argue that President Trump violated the constitution by not granting them a chance to respond. In addition, TikTok says the Trump administration’s use of national security as a justification for banning the social media app is baseless.
“It’s based on pure speculation and conjecture,” the source said. “The order has no findings of fact, just reiterates rhetoric about China that has been kicking around.”
Trump gives Microsoft 45 days to clinch TikTok deal
Trump has allowed Microsoft to carry on with negotiations to acquire TikTok if it is able to close the deal in 45 days. The U-Turn by Trump prompted Microsoft to declare interest in TikTok in a deal that could further strain U.S-China relations.
The company joins other Chinese companies like Huawei that the Trump administration has classified as threats to national security. Last week, Trump indicated that he would ban TikTok from the U.S due to concerns that its Chinese ownership poses a threat to national security. This is because of the enormous amount of personal data that the app handles.
If the acquisition is completed, it will add 100 million new users to Microsoft and boost its position as a competitor in the social media industry against giants like Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat.
In a statement to respond to the purported lawsuit, White House spokesman Judd Deere defended Trump’s executive order, saying it is the responsibility of the American government to protect its citizens from cyber-related attacks.
Trump’s executive order
Trump issued an executive order banning any form of transaction between ByteDance, TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company 45 days. The President cited national security reasons for the ban. Social media is popular among teenagers where they shoot, edit, and share 60-seconds videos with their followers. The app has more than 100 million downloads in the U.S.