Last month, the US Justice Department accused TikTok of collecting sensitive personal user data from the US. The accusations claimed that the company sends the data to ByteDance engineers in China. The DOJ intensified its push to ban TikTok, alleging it poses a national security threat due to its handling of user data. Now, TikTok has filed a lawsuit to challenge the DOJ’s accusations. In the latest court appeal, TikTok denies US claims on China ties.
TikTok argued that the DOJ has made factual errors in its claims
According to Reuters, TikTok has argued that the Department of Justice has made factual errors in its earlier claims. The DOJ had previously claimed that TikTok enables the Chinese government to gather sensitive data on Americans. It also influences the content recommendations of users. However, in its latest court appeal, TikTok says that the content recommendation system as well as user data are stored on Oracle’s servers in the US.
Furthermore, TikTok said that all the content moderation decisions for the users in the US are made domestically. The company said that the DOJ has misstated the video-sharing platform’s ties to China. In the latest appeal on Thursday, TikTok argued that the law would strip it of its free-speech rights.
The DOJ’s argument states that TikTok’s content curation is “the speech of a foreigner”. It is not protected by the US Constitution. TikTok argued that “by the government’s logic, a U.S. newspaper that republishes the content of a foreign publication, would lack constitutional protection”.
TikTok is seeking to overturn Joe Biden’s sale/ban bill
In April, US President Joe Biden signed a bill that forces the TikTok app to be sold or banned. As per the terms, TikTok’s parent company Bytedance has until January 2025 to sell the video-sharing platform to a US-based entity. If it fails to comply, TikTok will be banned in the US. However, TikTok has contested a federal appeals court to overturn the law signed by Biden.
Biden’s bill mentions that the goal is to end TikTok’s China-based ownership, not to ban the immensely popular social media platform entirely. That said, the arguments on TikTok’s legal appeal are scheduled for September 16th. The date is placing the matter close to the presidential election on November 5th.
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