TikTok says its US data can’t be accessed by China and calls the ban an attack on free speech.
TikTok continues to fight against a potential ban in the US and claims the country’s officials have misstated the company’s ties to China and how it stores US data.
The social media company made its case to a US appeals court and is attempting to have the recently approved divestment bill overturned. This legislation was passed by US president Joe Biden earlier this year and orders TikTok owner ByteDance to sell its stake in the US version of the app or face a total ban in the country. ByteDance has until 19 January 2025 to make a decision.
TikTok was critical of this legislation in its appeal and called it “the most sweeping speech restriction in the country’s history” and one that singles out TikTok. It also spoke against claims by the US Department of Justice that its connection to China poses a national security threat.
“The government’s asserted interest in regulating the content Americans view is illegitimate – Congress may not silence a US company’s speech because it wants to block content that Congress deems ‘propaganda’,” TikTok’s lawyers said in a document shared by Reuters. “And the government repeatedly admits it has no evidence that China ever manipulated the content Americans see on TikTok.
“Its stated reason for fearing Chinese manipulation – its claim that the recommendation engine ‘resides within China’ – is plainly wrong. The recommendation engine is in the United States, under Oracle’s protection.”
TikTok claims the US government has no evidence that China has “ever accessed US user data” from the social media company. It also said that it is “not stripped of First Amendment protection” because it is owned by a foreign company.
“By the government’s logic, a US newspaper that republishes the content of a foreign publication – Reuters, for example – would lack constitutional protection,” TikTok said.
Previous media investigations claim that TikTok had stored the data of some US and European users on servers in China. Meanwhile, some former employees told Fortune that the company’s independence from China is largely cosmetic.
The appeals court is scheduled to hold oral arguments on this appeal on 16 September. The discussion around TikTok has also made its way into the upcoming US presidential election – candidate Donald Trump has said he would not support a TikTok ban.
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