TikTok to Challenge US Law that Likely Poses Threat to App’s Existence

Chinese video-streaming app TikTok is likely to present its case against the possibility of ban in the US unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, sells it within nine months. The arguments will begin on September 16 before a three-judge panel at an appeals court in Washington, DC, according to the BBC. 

The move of the US government stems from the privacy concerns of 170 million American users. In fact, in April this year, US President Joe Biden signed a law that would lead to a nationwide ban of the Chinese video-streaming app unless it is sold within a year. Additionally, it would lead to the removal of TikTok from Google and Apple stores and from “internet hosting services” that support it. 

On the other hand, TikTok and ByteDance criticised the law as an “extraordinary intrusion on free speech rights” and have persistently denied links to the Chinese government. 

Why did the US pass a law to likely ban TikTok? 

In 2017, China’s ByteDance bought Musical.ly and relaunched it with a new name as TikTok. As its user base in America grew substantially, so did the concerns of the government over data privacy. Since then, the app has been under strict scrutiny of America’s security officials, according to media reports. 

Consequently, in April, the Congress moved the law to ban TikTok if ByteDance doesn’t sell it within a year’s time. 

“Congress is passing the law to prevent foreign adversaries from conducting espionage, surveillance, maligned operations, harming vulnerable Americans, our servicemen and women, and our US government personnel,” said a Democratic Senator, Maria Cantwell. Cantwell chairs the Senate Commerce Committee. Congress is not acting to punish ByteDance, TikTok or any other individual company, Cantwell added. 

The law has come at a time when other social media apps like Telegram and Elon Musk’s X too have come under the radar of various governments over data privacy concerns. 

Recently, Elon Musk’s social media platform X, faced huge backlash from Brazil’s Supreme Court. Moreover, the Telegram owner, Pavel Durov, was recently arrested by the French authorities, accusing the platform was being used for crimes related to child sexual abuse, drug trafficking, etc.