Justice Department Pushes Court to Uphold TikTok Divestment Law

The Justice Department has urged a U.S. appeals court to reject attempts to block a law requiring China's ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. assets by January 19th. The government argues national security risks over ByteDance's ownership and China's potential to exploit American user data through TikTok.

The Justice Department late on Friday urged a U.S. appeals court to dismiss legal challenges to a mandate requiring China-based ByteDance to divest TikTok's U.S. assets by January 19th or face a ban.

TikTok, its parent company ByteDance, and a group of TikTok creators have filed lawsuits aiming to block the law. The Justice Department intends to elaborate on broad national security concerns regarding ByteDance's ownership of TikTok.

A classified filing will outline additional security issues, with declarations from the FBI and other intelligence bodies, a senior official stated. The Justice Department argues that TikTok under Chinese ownership presents a severe national security threat due to its access to extensive personal data of Americans, which it claims China could covertly manipulate.

The law, signed by President Biden on April 24, grants ByteDance until January 19 to divest TikTok or face a ban. The administration seeks to end Chinese ownership of TikTok on national security grounds rather than outright banning the app. Officials counter TikTok's argument that the law infringes the First Amendment, stating the measure is meant to address security concerns, not speech. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hear oral arguments on September 16, just weeks before the 2024 presidential election.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has expressed opposition to a TikTok ban, while Vice President Kamala Harris, also a presidential contender, joined TikTok this week. The law would prohibit app stores like Apple and Google's platforms from offering TikTok and bar internet hosting services from supporting it unless divested by ByteDance.

Prompted by U.S. lawmakers' concerns about potential data access and spying by China, the measure passed overwhelmingly in Congress just weeks after its introduction.

(With inputs from agencies.)