TikTok Argues US Could Have Considered Alternatives To Banning App

TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance Ltd. contend the U.S. could have enacted lighter alternatives to banning the app to address national security concerns.

President Joe Biden signed a bill into law in late April that would force a sale of TikTok by ByteDance, if not completely ban it, The New York Times reported.

In a court filing on Thursday, TikTok's lawyers said the company negotiated a 90-page national security agreement with the U.S. government that offered "multi-layered safeguards and enforcement mechanisms," but Congress disregarded it when enacting the TikTok ban, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

TikTok and the company's content creators brought legal challenges last month against the law, which will ban the app if ByteDance doesn't divest it by Jan. 19, 2025.

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U.S. lawmakers quickly passed the ban after a number of classified briefings pointed to security risks of China possibly accessing U.S. user information and influencing citizens through the app.

TikTok said there was no evidence to validate concerns that the app posed a national security threat, according to Bloomberg.

TikTok's attempts to address concerns by working with Oracle Corp. to protect user information didn't satisfy lawmakers because TikTok's algorithm, source code and back-end support are still in China, according to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner.

The company also laid out its reasons for bringing the lawsuit against Attorney General Merrick Garland, arguing the ban will infringe on free speech rights and hurt those who earn a living from creating content on the platform.

In the brief, TikTok said it was not "possible technologically, commercially or legally" for ByteDance to divest the video-sharing platform, arguing that doing so would reduce it “to a shell of its former self.”

Justice Department attorneys have until July 26 to respond to TikTok's arguments.

Price action: Meta Platforms Inc. META, the parent company of social media giant Facebook, gained 0.44% on Thursday, while Alphabet Inc. GOOGLGOOG, which owns video-sharing platform YouTube, picked up 0.71%.

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