TikTok gears up for legal fight in US to prevent ban

TikTok is gearing up for a long legal battle against legislation in the US that threatens to ban the app in its largest market if its Chinese owner ByteDance refuses to sell the viral video platform, Report informs referring to the Financial Times.

The US House of Representatives on Saturday passed a package of national security bills that included legislation that would result in TikTok being banned in the country if Chinese parent company ByteDance does not divest the app. Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s public policy head in the US, told staff in response that if the bill became law, the company would “move to the courts for a legal challenge”.

“This legislation is a clear violation of the First Amendment rights of TikTok’s 170mn American users,” he said in a memo to staff, according to people who saw it. “We’ll continue to fight.”

The bill was packaged together with funding for Ukraine and Israel and sent to the US Senate, which is expected to pass the measure this week before it is signed by President Joe Biden. “This is the beginning, not the end, of this long process,” Beckerman told TikTok employees.

The group is set to hold a town hall for staff on the US situation on Wednesday.