In its latest move to prevent the US government from banning its platform from the US completely, TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, filed a lawsuit that challenges the ban. The app was banned due to national security concerns, as China would effectively gain access to information from its users because it is owned by a Chinese company.

The lawsuit stated that the new law banning TikTok "vaguely paints its ownership of TikTok as a national security threat in order to circumvent the First Amendment," according to the Associated Press. Both ByteDance and TikTok argued that there is no evidence that the company poses a threat and called the law "obviously unconstitutional."

"For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide," the two companies asserted on the lawsuit.

President Joe Biden has already signed the bill into law as part of a larger foreign aid package as part of a larger foreign aid package. However, critics of the law argued that this type of action "would be expected from repressive regimes such as those in Iran and China."

The legal fight over TikTok is expected to be long and drawn out, and it could even end up before the US Supreme Court. However, should TikTok lose its case, the video-sharing social media platform must stop operating in the United States as early as next year.

The law would require ByteDance to sell TikTok to a US-approved buyer within nine months. If not, the platform would be banned. However, ByteDance has made it clear that it has no plans to sell the platform, and even if it wanted to sell the company, it would still require the Chinese government's blessing, which is not likely as well.

READ MORE: TikTok Ban: US Senators Look at Platform's Spying Potential

TikTok Already Losing Users Before Ban Was Even Signed Into Law

Even before the platform was banned by the US, many users have said that TikTok was "just not hitting like it used to" and was already starting to flop in the country.

"As TikTok faces a potential ban in the US, was the app already on its way out?" asked Kari Paul, a contributor for The Guardian, in an op-ed. She wrote that "the algorithm serves much less delight and serendipity than it used to" and that many agreed as the app has slowly been getting less and less used.

US Concerns Over Security Led to the TikTok Ban

US security experts, including FBI Director Christopher Wray, have repeatedly expressed their concerns regarding the app, with Wray telling Congress that he was "extremely concerned" the Chinese government could weaponize the data collected through TikTok.

While the platform maintains that the Chinese government does not get any of its US data, whistleblowers have previously stated otherwise, with the data from the US being sent to its servers back in China.

READ MORE: TikTok Ban: Influencers Scramble To Lobby Congress Against Banning Platform

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Written by: Rick Martin

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