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24/08/2020

TikTok Confirms It Will File Legal Challenge Against Trump's Executive Order




TikTok Confirms It Will File Legal Challenge Against Trump's Executive Order
The Chinese short video sharing app TikTok confirmed its decision to file a lawsuit against the executive order of United States President Donald Trump that bans transactions of American companies with the app as well as its Chinese parent ByteDance.
 
It is possible that the law suit could be filed as soon as Monday.
 
Despite trying to engage with the USN administration for almost a year, TikTok has faced "a lack of due process", the short video sharing app said, adding that no attention to the facts was heeded to by the government.
 
"To ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and that our company and users are treated fairly, we have no choice but to challenge the executive order through the judicial system," the company spokesperson said.
 
ByteDance has been given was 90 days to divest the US operations of TikTok according to the executive order issued by Trump on August 14.
 
Progress has been made by ByteDance in negotiations with the potential acquirers for TikTok which includes Microsoft Corp and Oracle. The bidding process could also be joined in by some of ByteDance's US investors.
 
While TikTok is best known for its anodyne videos of people dancing and going viral among teenagers, US officials have expressed concerns that information on users could be passed on to China's government.
 
There were reports earlier that quoted sources saying that the argument to be put forward in court by TikTok against the executive order would be that the order was based on the International Emergency Economic Powers Act which prevents completion of due process.   Classifying TikTok as a national security threat by the White House would also be contested by the app.
 
According to previous reports, ByteDance would not be shielded from having to divest the app because of TikTok’s legal challenge. This is because the planned law suit is not related to the executive order of August 14 pertaining to the sale of TikTok which is not subject to judicial review.
 
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has been pushing its efforts to take out those Chinese apps that it deems to be “untrusted”, from the digital networks in the country. In addition to the action against TikTok and ByteDance, the Trump administration has also banned transactions of American companies or entities with Chinese chat app WeChat owned by China’s Tencent Holding Ltd.
 
(Source:www.business-standard.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell

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