Reports claim TikTok will sue Trump over ban, online petition to repeal government order gets 38k signatures
People on the Internet are banding together to prevent the ban of TikTok, a video-sharing social networking service. The hugely-popular app allows users to create 15-second videos, soundtracked by music clips and is a wildly popular concept. TikTok was launched in 2016 but it was one of the most downloaded apps of the second decade of the millennium.
President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday, August 6, invoking his emergency powers to impose broad sanctions against TikTok. The move was aimed to step up pressure on the Chinese-owned app to sell its US assets to an American company. According to NPR, "TikTok officials see the executive order as essentially a pressure campaign, a way of forcing an American company to move quickly to acquire the app's US assets". TikTok issued a statement in response to Trump's executive ban. "We are shocked by the recent Executive Order, which was issued without any due process," the statement read. "The text of the decision makes it plain that there has been a reliance on unnamed 'reports' with no citations, fears that the app 'maybe' used for misinformation campaigns with no substantiation of such fears, and concerns about the collection of data that is industry standard for thousands of mobile apps around the world."
According to NPR, the order which takes effect in 45 days will deem any transactions between TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, and US citizens to be outlawed for national security reasons. More than 100 million Americans have downloaded the app and its ban has been met with a lot of opposition by its users. This also includes an online petition that has amassed a lot of signatures. Amid all this resistance against the ban, NPR has reported that TikTok too would be suing the Trump administration challenging the executive order that bans the service from the US.
The publication learned from a source "that the lawsuit will argue that President Trump's far-reaching action is unconstitutional because it failed to give the company a chance to respond. It also alleges that the administration's national security justification for the order is baseless." The source further added: "The order has no findings of fact, just reiterates rhetoric about China that has been kicking around." Officials at TikTok have declined a public comment and so has the White House, on the expected litigation. However, defending Trump's executive order, White House spokesman Judd Deere said, "The administration is committed to protecting the American people from all cyber-related threats to critical infrastructure, public health and safety, and our economic and national security."
In an attempt to save their favorite app, a person with the username @dougmar has created a change.org petition. "TikTok has given me and many other creators somewhere to go to express ourselves. TikTok has given a lot of viewers somewhere to go to escape and enjoy good content. TikTok has done way more positive than negative. The community there is filled with beautiful creative people. We need TikTok to create a light and happiness in these weird times of the world," read the petition details.
The petition has already garnered more than 38,000 signatures.