The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) urged a federal appeals court to uphold an April law mandating China-based ByteDance to divest its U.S. TikTok assets by January 19 or face a ban. The Department of Justice contends that TikTok, poses a significant national security threat due to its extensive access to U.S. user's personal data, suggesting that China could covertly influence the information consumed by Americans via TikTok.
"The serious national security threat posed by TikTok is real," the DOJ stated. "TikTok provides the Chinese government the means to undermine U.S. national security in two principal ways: data collection and covert content manipulation."
The Biden administration has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to dismiss lawsuits from TikTok, ByteDance, and a group of TikTok creators attempting to block the law that could potentially ban the app used by 170 million Americans.
TikTok has consistently denied allegations of sharing U.S. user data with China or manipulating content. In response to the DOJ brief, TikTok posted on the social media platform X, "The government has never put forth proof of its claims, including when Congress passed this unconstitutional law. "Today, the government is taking this unprecedented step while hiding behind secret information once again."
The DOJ's filing elaborates on broad national security concerns regarding to ByteDance's ownership of TikTok. "China’s long-term geopolitical strategy involves developing and pre-positioning assets that it can deploy at opportune moments," the department explained.
Although the government admitted in a separate declaration that it had no evidence of the Chinese government accessing U.S. TikTok user data, it argued that the potential risk was too substantial to ignore. "The United States is not required to wait until its foreign adversary takes specific detrimental actions before responding to such a threat," the filing asserted.
In addition to the public filing, the USA government submitted a classified document to the court for outlining further security concerns about ByteDance's ownership of TikTok. Broader declarations from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the DOJ's National Security Division were also included.
ByteDance informed the U.S. government that TikTok's source code consists of 2 billion lines, making a full review unfeasible. "Oracle estimated it would require three years to review this body of code," excluding additional changes, the DOJ added.
The law, signed by President Joe Biden on April 24, gives ByteDance until January 19 to sell TikTok or face a ban. The White House emphasizes that it seeks to end Chinese-based ownership for national security reasons rather than ban TikTok itself.
"The DOJ dismissed TikTok's arguments, including claims of First Amendment violations, stating the law focuses on national-security, not speech. They noted TikTok users have many other platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and X."
Furthermore, the DOJ criticized TikTok's billion plan to safeguard U.S. user data as inadequate. It argued that the proposed agreement fell short partly because U.S. officials do not trust ByteDance and doubt the company’s ability to prevent violations.
Oral arguments on the legal challenge are scheduled for September 16, placing the decision on TikTok's future in the final weeks before the November 5 presidential election. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has expressed opposition to a TikTok ban, while Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee, recently joined TikTok.
The law prohibits app stores like Apple's and Alphabet's Google from offering TikTok and bars internet hosting services from supporting TikTok unless it is divested by ByteDance. Congress quickly passed this measure due to concerns that China could access or spy on Americans' data through the app.
Thats all. Don't forget to visit the ShineMat.com blog regularly to get all the latest news about technology. Stay well friends.
"The serious national security threat posed by TikTok is real," the DOJ stated. "TikTok provides the Chinese government the means to undermine U.S. national security in two principal ways: data collection and covert content manipulation."
The Biden administration has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to dismiss lawsuits from TikTok, ByteDance, and a group of TikTok creators attempting to block the law that could potentially ban the app used by 170 million Americans.
TikTok has consistently denied allegations of sharing U.S. user data with China or manipulating content. In response to the DOJ brief, TikTok posted on the social media platform X, "The government has never put forth proof of its claims, including when Congress passed this unconstitutional law. "Today, the government is taking this unprecedented step while hiding behind secret information once again."
The DOJ's filing elaborates on broad national security concerns regarding to ByteDance's ownership of TikTok. "China’s long-term geopolitical strategy involves developing and pre-positioning assets that it can deploy at opportune moments," the department explained.
Although the government admitted in a separate declaration that it had no evidence of the Chinese government accessing U.S. TikTok user data, it argued that the potential risk was too substantial to ignore. "The United States is not required to wait until its foreign adversary takes specific detrimental actions before responding to such a threat," the filing asserted.
In addition to the public filing, the USA government submitted a classified document to the court for outlining further security concerns about ByteDance's ownership of TikTok. Broader declarations from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the DOJ's National Security Division were also included.
ByteDance informed the U.S. government that TikTok's source code consists of 2 billion lines, making a full review unfeasible. "Oracle estimated it would require three years to review this body of code," excluding additional changes, the DOJ added.
The law, signed by President Joe Biden on April 24, gives ByteDance until January 19 to sell TikTok or face a ban. The White House emphasizes that it seeks to end Chinese-based ownership for national security reasons rather than ban TikTok itself.
"The DOJ dismissed TikTok's arguments, including claims of First Amendment violations, stating the law focuses on national-security, not speech. They noted TikTok users have many other platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and X."
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Furthermore, the DOJ criticized TikTok's billion plan to safeguard U.S. user data as inadequate. It argued that the proposed agreement fell short partly because U.S. officials do not trust ByteDance and doubt the company’s ability to prevent violations.
Oral arguments on the legal challenge are scheduled for September 16, placing the decision on TikTok's future in the final weeks before the November 5 presidential election. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has expressed opposition to a TikTok ban, while Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee, recently joined TikTok.
The law prohibits app stores like Apple's and Alphabet's Google from offering TikTok and bars internet hosting services from supporting TikTok unless it is divested by ByteDance. Congress quickly passed this measure due to concerns that China could access or spy on Americans' data through the app.
Thats all. Don't forget to visit the ShineMat.com blog regularly to get all the latest news about technology. Stay well friends.
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