08/24/2020 - 15:43
- Clarín.com
- World
In an open legal dispute with the Donald Trump administration, the social video application TikTok, owned by China's ByteDance , sued the US government for enacting a law that prohibits any transaction or business with that company in the US.
In its lawsuit, TikTok alleged that President Trump's executive order, signed in early August, "is not based on genuine national security concerns," according to excerpts from the court document that the company itself posted on a blog Monday.
"The executive order issued by the Administration on August 6, 2020 has the potential to strip our community of rights without any evidence to justify such extreme action and without due process," TikTok noted in that complaint.
The Trump Administration maintains that TikTok poses a "threat" to the national security of the United States , which is why it prevented its transactions as of September 15, and is seeking to force its sale to a US company such as Microsoft, which has shown interest in the popular social network.
In his executive order, Trump assured that TikTok creates "real risks" for the US , thus banning any business with its parent company, a move that may force ByteDance to sell its social network.
TikTok sued Donald Trump for banning its operations in the United States. Photo: AP.
The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in the Federal District Court for the Central District of California, in Los Angeles, represents another step in the dispute between TikTok and the White House.
It all started with Trump's first executive order against TikTok, which derives from its legal authority from the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which allows the president to regulate economic transactions in a national emergency.
Previous administrations have used it to sanction foreign governments, as well as drug lords and hackers, but they have never used it against a global technology company.
TikTok, which has more than 80 million users in the US , is one of the social networks that has grown the most in recent years, where it has become the main entertainment for many teenagers and a marketing channel for important celebrities .
The Trump Administration, as well as leading Democratic congressmen, have insisted that the widespread use of TikTok puts the privacy of American data and national security at risk, since it is exposed through ByteDance to instructions and intervention from the Chinese Government.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry also opposes the forced sale of TikTok, an operation that in its opinion violates the principles of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
In fact, the Chinese government sees the intention to sell TikTok as another chapter in the trade war between Beijing and Washington, which tries to contain the growing technological power of the Asian giant, which has already seen how the telecommunications firm Huawei has had to face restrictions.
Attempts to pressure TikTok are also viewed with concern by tech giants with global ambitions such as Alibaba and Tencent. EFE
Source: EFE
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