TikTok is suing the Trump administration over an executive order that would effectively ban the short-form video app in the US on September 20.
The lawsuit (embedded below) was filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California on Monday. TikTok said President Donald Trump's Aug. 6 regulation failed to follow due process or "provided evidence that TikTok posed an actual threat". The order also failed to justify its "punitive measures," the company said in a blog post.
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TikTok, which has more than 100 million American users, said it had been deprived of the opportunity to respond and national security concerns related to the app were unfounded.
"The executive order is not rooted in serious national security concerns," the complaint said. "Independent experts on national security and information security have criticized the political character of this executive regulation and expressed doubts as to whether the stated national security goal is real."
Trump's Executive Order blocks all US transactions with TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance. The order said the data TikTok is collecting "threatens to give the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information" and could allow China to track the location of federal employees and contractors. According to the order, TikTok would be banned in the US unless another company purchased the app.
The Executive Order followed India's move in June to ban TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps. India cited national security concerns for the actions.
TikTok says it has never disclosed US user data to the Chinese government and would not do so even if asked. The company has also denied censoring content that is critical of the Chinese government. CIA analysts told the White House that Chinese intelligence officials could use TikTok to intercept data "to drill into smartphones," but there is no evidence that this happened, The Times reported.
TikTok said in a blog post earlier this month that Trump's Executive Order "could undermine global corporations 'confidence in the United States' commitment to the rule of law, which has served as a magnet for investment and fueled decades of American economic growth." The company also said, "It sets a dangerous precedent for the concept of free speech and open markets."
Microsoft has expressed an interest in purchasing TikTok's service in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand by September 15, prior to the Executive Order deadline.
Twitter was also in preliminary talks about the takeover of TikTok, but is considered a "long-shot bidder," reported the Wall Street Journal. Oracle and Google's parent company Alphabet have also considered buying TikTok. Apple denied being interested in taking over the company.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
