On Monday, in a Washington courtroom, the attorneys for TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, will face the Justice Department in an attempt to stop a bill that may outlaw the well-known short video app from going into effect as early as January 19.
Congress approved a law in April that gave ByteDance an ultimatum: sell or divest TikTok’s U.S. assets by January 19 or face a ban. This is the basis of the high-stakes legal dispute.
Due to worries that China might obtain American personal information or snoop on individuals via the app, the Justice Department has classified TikTok as a major national security threat.
ByteDance and TikTok have filed a lawsuit, claiming that the regulation infringes on Americans’ freedom to free speech and is unconstitutional.
They call the rule “a radical departure from this country’s tradition of championing an open Internet,” delivering a biting critique.
On Monday, Circuit Judges Sri Srinivasan, Neomi Rao, and Douglas Ginsburg of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, a three-judge panel, will hear oral arguments and assess the legal objections brought by TikTok and users against the statute.
The Chinese ownership of TikTok, according to the Justice Department, presents a serious risk as China has the ability to secretly alter the content that Americans access through the app.
“TikTok poses a real and serious threat to national security,” the government declared in a statement.
ByteDance has retaliated, stating that divestment is “not possible technologically, commercially, or legally” and that it will result in an unprecedented prohibition in the absence of a court decision.
The Justice Department and TikTok have both asked for a decision by December 6th, which might enable the US Supreme Court to hear an appeal before any prohibition goes into force.
On the basis of national security concerns, the White House has stated that it wants Chinese ownership to terminate, but it has refrained from demanding that TikTok be banned.
Donald Trump, a Republican running for president in 2020, has declared that if elected, he will not permit a ban on TikTok.
The hearing becomes greater importance as the presidential race nears its conclusion since both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are aggressively courting younger voters on TikTok.
Millions of American users are eagerly awaiting the result since the app’s future is in jeopardy.
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