Analysts say that the lawsuit, in which a Chinese tech company declared a head-on conflict with the U.S. government, could affect the U.S. presidential election and U.S.-China relations in general, depending on the results.
According to CNBC and other foreign media on the 7th (local time), TikTok filed a lawsuit in the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, claiming that the bill signed by President Biden on the 24th of last month violates freedom of expression under the First Amendment. According to the bill, TikTok must sell TikTok’s U.S. business within 270 days by January 19 next year. It is possible to receive an extension of the 90-day deadline at the president’s discretion, but if it does not find a seller within the period, TikTok will be permanently removed from the app store in the U.S.
“For the first time in history, the U.S. Congress has enacted a law that permanently and nationally bans one platform,” TikTok said in its 67-page complaint, adding that it has banned all Americans from participating in the platform, which has 1 billion people around the world. “Concerns about national security cannot be a sufficient reason to limit freedom of expression,” he added, “The responsibility of proving the legitimacy of the bill lies with the federal government.”
TikTok strongly denied the U.S. government’s claim that “TikTok, a Chinese service, can collect U.S. user information and submit it to the Chinese government at any time.” In 2022, it explained that it took information protection measures such as transferring U.S. user data to servers owned by Oracle, a U.S. technology giant.
In response to the order to sell its business in the U.S., TikTok said, “Commercially, technically, and legally, it is not feasible.” It is explained that the Chinese government will not be able to sell the content recommendation algorithm engine, which is a key feature of TikTok, to the U.S. TikTok also added that in-house software engineers must access its parent company, ByteDance Software, in order to maintain its TikTok service, and the law prohibits the connection between ByteDance and TikTok.
According to CB Insights, a global market research firm, TikTok’s parent company ByteDance is estimated to have an enterprise value of 225 billion dollars. The sale price of the U.S. business is expected to reach tens of billions of dollars. The New York Times said, “Buyers who can afford this price are limited to large companies, but big tech such as Meta and Google are highly likely to fail to acquire the business due to anti-trust laws.” The New York Times also said that chances are slim that ByteDance will consider selling TikTok’s entire global operations or its U.S. operation with 7,000 U.S. employees.
The forced removal of TikTok continues a number of legal disputes at the state and federal levels. In November last year, Montana temporarily suspended the state’s decision to ban the use of TikTok in the state from January this year. Montana has now raised an objection to the order. Former President Donald Trump also tried to ban the sale of TikTok in an executive order in 2020, but the federal court put the brakes on the reason for the First Amendment. Major foreign media such as CNBC pointed out that the lawsuit could extend to the Supreme Court. As TikTok and the U.S. government enter into full-fledged legal disputes, it is expected that it will take a considerable amount of time for the bill to take effect.
Whether it is for the people to sell TikTok or the sacrifice of the political fight should be reconsidered. There is also a positive effect of TikTok, but ignoring it and insisting on only expelling it will face a greater backlash from users.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
