Chinese video app Tiktok is taking legal steps to challenge a ban imposed by US President Donald Trump. A spokesman for Byte Dance, the company that houses Tiktok, said the company had been trying to comply with Trump administration policies for the past year but there was still no solution. Tiktok sued the US Government.
“To ensure the rule of law and our companies and users are treated fairly, we have no choice but to oppose (President Trump’s) executive order through the justice system,” said a Tiktok spokesman, reported by the BBC, Sunday (23/8).
Tiktok sued the US Government
President Trump has issued an executive order banning the use of the Tiktok app in the US from mid-September. Trump’s actions prompted Microsoft and Oracle to plan to acquire Byte Dance operations in the US. However, until now it is reportedly still in the discussion and negotiation stage.
The US government banned the use of the Tiktok app for fear that the company could leak user data in America to the Chinese government, which could compromise national security. This was strongly denied by Byte Dance. The Tiktok app has 80 million active users in the US.
Tiktok will fight against the actions of the US government blocking all transactions with Byte Dance. This is the first time the company has confirmed it will carry out its proposed legal action next week.
President Trump
On Friday, a group of Chinese Americans filed a separate lawsuit against a similar ban on the social media app Wechat, which is owned by the company Tencent. President Trump claims the use of Chinese applications could threaten national security. They can gather information that is used to extort or spy on American companies.
“The growth of mobile applications developed and owned by Chinese companies threatens the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party to access private and proprietary information of Americans,” Trump said.
Tiktok sued the US Government. The US ban on Tiktok and Wechat apps is a series of new steps Trump is taking against China ahead of the presidential election in November. Since taking office as president, Trump has waged a trade war against China. The relationship between the two countries became increasingly strained when the corona virus pandemic began to spread around the world. The US accuses China of withholding information about the virus and deliberately spreading it globally.
