TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, are taking the United States to court over a law that could make TikTok stop working unless it’s sold to another company.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday. It could lead to a long legal battle about what happens to TikTok in America.
TikTok says the law is clearly against the rules of the Constitution. The law is part of a bigger foreign aid package, and TikTok thinks it’s unfair. The law wants ByteDance to sell TikTok within nine months. If they’re already in the process of selling it, they get three more months to finish. ByteDance says they don’t plan to sell TikTok, and even if they did, they need permission from China. But China doesn’t want them to sell TikTok.
TikTok has taken the United States to court over a law that could make the app stop working unless it’s sold to another company
TikTok and ByteDance say the law is impossible for them to follow. They think it goes against freedom of speech, which is protected by the First Amendment. They want the court to say the law is wrong and stop it from being enforced.
This fight over TikTok is happening at a time when the United States and China don’t get along well. They’re in a kind of competition, especially in things like technology and keeping data safe. Some people worry that Chinese officials might force ByteDance to give them information about American users or change what people see on TikTok to fit what China wants. But others say there’s no proof that TikTok is doing anything wrong.
Experts think TikTok might win this fight in court because the First Amendment says the government can’t stop Americans from seeing things from other countries without a really good reason. And they don’t see a good reason in this case.
