TikTok and ByteDance Sue US Government Over Share Sale Rule | Wayne Dupree

TikTok and its Chinese parent firm ByteDance are suing the US federal government, according to the AP, to contest a rule that would require ByteDance to sell its share in the site or face an outright ban. Its future in the US might be the subject of a drawn-out court battle, as suggested by the complaint filed on Tuesday. The social video business referred to the measure as “obviously unconstitutional.” President Biden approved it as a part of a bigger $95 billion package of international assistance.

ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is required by legislation to sell the site within nine months. In case a sale is already underway, the business will have an additional three months to finalize the agreement. As stated on its website, ByteDance “does not have any plan to sell TikTok.” Beijing, however, would need to provide its approval before the business could sell, even though it has already expressed resistance to a forced sale of the platform.

Administration and law enforcement officials, along with politicians from both parties in the US, have voiced worries about Chinese authorities’ potential to coerce ByteDance into providing US user data or to manipulate the algorithm that determines what users see in their feeds in order to influence public opinion. There have also been references to a Rutgers University research, which the business rejects, which asserts that TikTok material is either underrepresented or magnified because it supports the goals of the Chinese government.