TikTok Sues US Over Ban - Claims It Is 'Unconstitutional'

TikTok has announced that it’s suing the US government, claiming that the recently passed ban against the social media platform is unconstitutional. It compels TikTok to divest from its parent company, ByteDance, by January 19th, 2025, or cease operations in the US.

In a court filing submitted on 7 May 2024, TikTok argues that “Congress has taken the unprecedented step of expressly singling out and banning TikTok.” And, for the first time in history, it has taken a step that “bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide.”

TikTok made several strongly worded claims, such as that the “sponsors” of the bill themselves know the ban is unconstitutional. But, they have “tried mightily to depict the law not as a ban at all, but merely a regulation of TikTok’s ownership.”

As TikTok’s filing puts it, “they claim that the Act is not a ban because it offers ByteDance a choice: divest TikTok’s US business or be shut down.” However, the social media platform insists that its divestiture from ByteDance is not possible; “not commercially, not technologically, not legally.” As a result, TikTok claims that the Act “will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025.”

The social media company is asking the court to render the law unconstitutional and issue an order preventing the Attorney general from enforcing it. The petition cites multiple grounds, including that the Act is a “violation of the first amendment,” an “unlawful taking of private property without just compensation,” and that it “forecloses an entire medium of expression.”

The law, Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act enjoyed a relatively smooth passage to getting signed. After an initial proposition stalled out, a second repackaging of the law made it through both the House and Senate with strong bipartisan support. Biden signed the bill on April 25th, 2024, just a day after it passed the Senate vote.