TikTok files challenge against US ban
Petition says, "If a 'qualified divestiture' were feasible, the act would still be an extraordinary and unconstitutional assertion of power"
ByteDance and TikTok have filed a challenge to the bill banning the app in the US.
As reported by NPR, it was filed in the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The filing argues, in part, that no public evidence has revealed that the Chinese government has been using the app to spy on Americans.
"Banning TikTok is so obviously unconstitutional, in fact, that even the Act's sponsors recognized that reality, and therefore have tried mightily to depict the law not as a ban at all, but merely a regulation of TikTok's ownership," the petition said.
TikTok also says that Congress has ignored less restrictive methods to address security concerns.
Regarding divesting the app from its parent company, the filing said, "Even if a 'qualified divestiture' were feasible, the act would still be an extraordinary and unconstitutional assertion of power.
"If upheld, it would allow the government to decide that a company may no longer own and publish the innovative and unique speech [of the] United States."
The news comes two weeks after President Joe Biden signed a national security measure package, including legislation forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok or ban it in the US.
GamesIndustry.biz's Brendan Sinclair explored what the TikTok ban bill could mean for gaming.