In April, TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance were informed that they had until January of the next year to remove TikTok from the US or risk the app being prohibited there.
President Joe Biden’s legislation grants the US government the authority to require these purchases for reasons of national security.
In this scenario, the main concerns are that Beijing may be able to obtain data on TikTok’s 170 million American users, and TikTok may be forced to spy on its users by the Chinese government.
Although it has maintained that it is not attempting to outlaw TikTok, Thursday’s filing disputed that was the outcome that would inevitably occur if the new law was to take effect.
It was “not possible technologically, commercially, or legally” for a sale, according to ByteDance.
In a joint document, the two agreed to grant the US government the authority to “kill switch” TikTok’s operations in the nation in the event that the company broke a number of data and national security pledges.
On September 16, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hear arguments about claims brought by ByteDance, TikTok, and TikTok users.
“This law creates a risky precedent and represents a drastic break from the nation’s history of supporting an open Internet.”
