The US government is being sued by TikTok and ByteDance for the recently enacted “Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications” law, which is headed toward outlawing the well-known social media platform.
Recall that TikTok and its CEO had earlier stated that, should the bill become law, they will sue the US for enacting the bill, which is a known threat to the app’s ability to operate in the US.
TikTok and ByteDance have finally filed a complaint and lawsuit against the US government, which was forwarded to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, initiating their legal battle.
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In the lawsuit, TikTok and ByteDance say the law “would allow the government to decide that a company may no longer own and publish the innovative and unique speech platform it created. If Congress can do this, it can circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the publisher of any individual newspaper or website to sell to avoid being shut down.”
The law will “silence the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere,” TikTok and ByteDance alleged.
“By banning all online platforms and software applications offered by ‘TikTok’ and all ByteDance subsidiaries, Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected speech,” the lawsuit said. “Unlike broadcast television and radio stations, which require government licenses to operate because they use the public airwaves, the government cannot, consistent with the First Amendment, dictate the ownership of newspapers, websites, online platforms, and other privately created speech forums.”
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