TikTok confirms to sue US government

Summary

TikTok has confirmed it will sue the US government and President Trump over an executive order threatening to ban the popular short-video app. The company asserts the ban is illegal, lacks due process, and interferes with private business negotiations. While pursuing legal action, TikTok is also preparing a shutdown plan for its US operations, including provisions for employee compensation. Concurrently, US tech giants like Microsoft, Twitter, and Oracle are in talks to acquire TikTok's US business to circumvent the ban, though a final agreement remains elusive. This indicates ByteDance's strong intent to contest the government's actions.

TikTok confirmed on Saturday to sue US government and US president Donald Trump over Trump administration's executive order on potentially banning TikTok in US.

This Chinese short video app is the most downloaded app on App Store and PlayStore over past few months and has gained extremely high popularity among American youths. The parent company ByteDance claimed that the government's ban is illegal and hurts the interests of America people.

"Even though we strongly disagree with the administration's concerns, for nearly a year we have sought to engage in good faith to provide a constructive solution," a TikTok spokesman told some media in a statement. "What we encountered instead was a lack of due process as the administration paid no attention to facts and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses."

At the same time TikTok is preparing its shutdown plan in case the ban takes effect and the lawsuit still goes on. According to ByteDance, even if the business is shutdown, the company would try to ensure the employees continue to get paid. 

There are also some US tech companies like Microsoft, Twitter and Oracle involved in a negotiation to buy TikTok US business so that the app can still be used within US. But the deal is not finalized yet as there are still a few matters unclear.

What we can see is that ByteDance is not going to give up easily. Let's see what will happen when the lawsuit begins.

TIKTOK BYTEDANCE US GOVERNMENT

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