On Tuesday, TikTok and its owner Bytedance filed a lawsuit to overturn a regulation that would have given the short-video app’s Chinese parent company a year to sell off its US assets or risk a statewide ban.
Check out the attempt to outlaw the app here.
Why are TikTok and divesting being enforced by US officials?
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a House of Representatives intelligence committee hearing in March that US authorities believe Beijing may use TikTok’s social media app to influence the US elections in 2024 and warned the company’s management is under the control of the Chinese government.
TikTok is a potential national security issue, according to numerous US politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties as well as the Biden administration, since China may force the corporation to share the data of its 170 million monthly US users.
The Department of Justice recently told lawmakers that because ByteDance is headquartered in Beijing, TikTok’s American users are at risk because foreign governments like China’s “are known for their surveillance and censorship.”
