TikTok filed its first legal briefs yesterday kicking off the court case over the law forcing a sale or ban of the company from China-based parent company, ByteDance.
The briefs—filed with the support of eight US-based TikTok creators—argue the law violates Americans' right to freedom of expression. TikTok dismissed a sale as impractical and said it would lead to a two-tier system of content whereby Americans would be cut off from content produced outside of the US. TikTok also revealed private negotiations, including an offer to provide US officials with a kill switch if the government believes the app remains a national security threat. Read an explanation of the sale-or-ban law here and US national security concerns here.
The Justice Department is set to respond next month with oral arguments scheduled for September. TikTok boasts more than 170 million monthly active users in the US and over 5 million US-based businesses.
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