The owners of the popular video app want to defend themselves against the US government. This should save them time. A sale of the US business still seems likely.
Washington (AP) - The operators of the video app Tiktok have announced a lawsuit against the decree of US President Donald Trump, which would force the Chinese owner of the app to sell the US business quickly.
The company is expected to file the lawsuit in the coming week, Tiktok said on Saturday. The government "did not pay attention to the facts and tried to interfere in the negotiations of private companies," it said in a statement. Therefore, despite continued efforts, it was not possible to find a constructive solution together.
Tiktok is part of the Chinese company Bytedance. At the beginning of August, Trump had banned US-Americans from doing business with Tiktok with reference to data security, but suspended the execution of the order until mid-September. If it should take effect, that would mean the end of the app in the USA. Last week Trump ordered that Bytedance had to disconnect from all data from users in the United States within three months. Bytedance is also no longer allowed to own any property in the USA that is used for the operation of Tiktok.
Tiktok initially did not provide any further details about the proposed lawsuit. It is conceivable, however, that the company will seek an injunction in order to circumvent the deadlines set by the US government for the time being. In the event of success, the company would then have more time to try to sell the US business in a better negotiating position.
Selling it to a US company could solve the legal problems. Microsoft is negotiating with Bytedance to take over the Tiktok business in the US and other countries. According to a media report, Twitter is also said to have held talks. Tiktok claims to have 100 million users in the US.
The government in Washington has been warning for a long time that data from US Americans could get into the hands of Chinese authorities via Tiktok. Tiktok, however, assures that the Chinese government has no access to user data and has never asked for it. The data of US users would be stored and processed in the USA.
Tiktok is growing rapidly and has long been considered the hippest big platform for younger people. The international video platform has hundreds of millions of users worldwide. You can upload your own clips there or watch other people's videos. The social network Facebook is trying to keep up with the short video format Reels on its Instagram photo platform.
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