TikTok, DOJ ask court to fast-track ban challenges

Update: 

• TikTok and the Department of Justice asked a D.C. circuit court to fast-track a challenge on a proposal to ban the app from the U.S. market in lieu of the platform cutting ties with Chinese-owned ByteDance. 
• The social media platform, eight of its creators and the DOJ implored the court to quickly review the constitutionality of the proposed ban. 
• The ban would go into effect as part of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which President Joe Biden signed last month. 
• TikTok and its creators argue an expedited review of the challenge is necessary because a delay would “cause irreparable injury” if the ban were to go into effect in January 2025, according to the motion to expedite. 
• The platform also argued it is in the significant interest of the public that there be a “prompt disposition of this matter.” 

TikTok bill overview: 

• Who: President Joe Biden signed a bill requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok. 
• Why: The forced sale is an attempt to limit Chinese influence in the United States.
• Where: Biden signed the Senate bill in Washington, D.C.

(April 29, 2024)

President Joe Biden signed a bill requiring ByteDance to sell TikTok within 270 days or face a ban in the United States, Reuters reports.

The TikTok bill allows a one-time 90-day extension on the timeline if Biden can prove to Congress ByteDance has a qualified buyer in place and the parties have a legally binding sales agreement in place, Law360 writes.

Content creators who rely on the app for income are expected to challenge the bill, The Associated Press says.

“The bill would also bar the company from controlling TikTok’s secret sauce: the algorithm that feeds users videos based on their interests and has made the platform a trendsetting phenomenon,” AP reports.

TikTok ban expected to face multiple legal challenges, reports say

The Biden Administration threatened to force a TikTok sell agreement as far back as March 2023.

“For years we’ve allowed the Chinese Communist party to control one of the most popular apps in America that was dangerously shortsighted,” Reuters reports Sen. Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, says. “A new law is going to require its Chinese owner to sell the app. This is a good move for America.”

The Chinese foreign ministry pointed to a statement it made earlier this year when the U.S. House passed the TikTok ban, saying “though the U.S. has never found any evidence of TikTok posing a threat to the U.S.’s national security, it has never stopped going after TikTok,” Reuters states.

TikTok has 170 million users in the United States. The ban comes after the Trump Administration attempted to put significant prohibitions on TikTok that a federal judge in Washington ultimately halted. 

TikTok is set to challenge the bill on First Amendment grounds, Reuters reports.

Do you have a TikTok account? Let us know in the comments.

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Tribes sue social platforms over native youth suicides
• Coursera class action lawsuit alleges company conducts automatic subscription renewal scheme
• Social media companies face class actions, agree to settlements
• Media Matters seeks dismissal of X advertiser loss lawsuit