U.S. DOJ Urges Appeals Court to Enforce TikTok Sale Order

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) requested a federal appeals court to uphold an April law mandating the sale of TikTok’s U.S. assets by China-based ByteDance by January 19 or face a ban.

The DOJ argues that under Chinese ownership, TikTok poses a significant national security threat, primarily due to its potential access to vast amounts of personal data from American users.

National Security Threat Assertions:

In its filing, the DOJ emphasized the risks associated with TikTok, asserting that the Chinese government could use the platform to covertly manipulate American information.

The department stated, “The serious national security threat posed by TikTok is real. “TikTok provides the Chinese government with the means to undermine U.S. national security in two principal ways: data collection and covert content manipulation.”

Response to Legal Challenges:

The Biden administration has requested the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to dismiss lawsuits filed by TikTok, ByteDance, and a group of TikTok creators.

These lawsuits seek to block law enforcement that could potentially ban the app, which 170 million Americans use.

TikTok’s Denial and Response:

TikTok has consistently denied allegations that it would share U.S. user data with the Chinese government or manipulate video content. In response to the DOJ’s brief, TikTok stated on social media platform X:

“The government has never put forth proof of its claims, including when Congress passed this unconstitutional law. Today, once again, the government is taking this unprecedented step while hiding behind secret information.”

DOJ’s National Security Concerns:

The DOJ’s filing elaborated on the national security concerns related to ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok.

The department noted, “China’s long-term geopolitical strategy involves developing and pre-positioning assets that it can deploy at opportune moments.”

While acknowledging in a separate declaration that there is no evidence the Chinese government has accessed U.S. TikTok user data, the DOJ stressed that the potential risk is too significant to ignore.

The filing concluded that “the United States is not required to wait until its foreign adversary takes specific detrimental actions before responding to such a threat.”