Popular short video app TikTok is aiming to take legal action against US President Donald Trump over the app’s potential ban.
Earlier this month, Trump issued an executive order that prohibits any US-based company to conduct transactions with the app after mid-September. That means any firm interesting in buying TikTok — like Mircosoft or Oracle — will need to finish the deal before the 45-day deadline ends.
Over the weekend, TikTok said that it has tried to hold a discussion with the US government over the last year. However, it observed that there’s a lack of due process and the administration pays “no attention to the facts.”
The app’s spokesperson said that the company is taking the legal route to sure that the firm and users are treated fairly:
To ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and that our company and users are treated fairly, we have no choice but to challenge the executive order through the judicial system.
TikTok’s not the only one going to the court against Trump’s executive orders. A group of users of WeChat, another app that might be banned, has filed a lawsuit in a federal court in San Fransisco. The user group, WeChat Users Alliance, claims that Trump’s executive order violates several of their constitutional rights.
Trump administration has accused TikTok of collecting large swathe of user information and sending it to China. Bytedacnce, TikTok’s parent company has repeatedly denied these allegations. The US is the app’s biggest market currently in the world with more than 80 million users. Previously, it was India with more than 200 million users, before the country banned TikTok in June.
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