TikTok Urges Appeal Court To Overturn US Law, Challenges DOJ Claims on China Ties

TikTok appealed to a federal court Thursday, challenging the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) characterization of the app's connections to China. The social media giant urged the court to reverse a law that mandates its parent company, ByteDance, to divest TikTok's U.S. operations or face a potential ban.

In its legal battle against the legislation, TikTok argued that the DOJ had presented incorrect information regarding the app's links to China, Reuters reported.

The Justice Department previously said that TikTok poses a national security threat by potentially allowing the Chinese government to access American user data and manipulate the content viewed by U.S. users.

TikTok countered these claims and said its recommendation algorithm and user data are securely stored on U.S.-based cloud servers managed by Oracle. TikTok also stated that all content moderation decisions affecting American users are made within the United States.

The controversial law, signed by President Joe Biden on April 24, sets a deadline of Jan. 19 for ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. assets, or the app could face a ban.

The White House has said its goal is to end Chinese ownership of the app due to national security concerns, but not necessarily to ban TikTok outright.

The appeals court is scheduled to hear oral arguments on Sept. 16, with the decision likely to have significant implications just weeks before the Nov. 5 presidential election.

Both major candidates, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, have shown support for TikTok, using it as part of their campaign strategies.

TikTok also said the law infringes on its free speech rights and challenged the DOJ's claim that the app's content curation decisions are foreign speech and therefore not protected by the U.S. Constitution.

TikTok compared the government's stance to a hypothetical scenario where a U.S. newspaper would lose its constitutional protection for republishing content from a foreign source like Reuters.

The law also restricts platforms like Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store from offering TikTok and prohibits internet hosting services from supporting the app unless ByteDance divests its U.S. assets.

The legislation, which passed Congress with overwhelming support, was driven by growing concerns that China could exploit the app to gather intelligence or spy on American users.