TikTok to sue Trump administration as soon as Tuesday, US media report says
- Company seeking to challenge president’s order banning popular video-service app from operating in US, according to NPR
- Separate report says TikTok and Twitter have held early talks about potential merger
TikTok plans to file a federal lawsuit as soon as Tuesday to challenge President Donald Trump’s executive order banning the video-sharing service from the US as unconstitutional, National Public Radio reported.
The lawsuit will be filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of California, where TikTok’s American operations are based, NPR said, citing a person familiar with the matter whom it did not identify.
It will argue that the president’s action is unconstitutional because it failed to give the company a chance to respond and that the US government’s national-security justification for the order is baseless, according the report.
Chinese-owned TikTok responded in a blog post on Friday it is “shocked” and will pursue all remedies available, including in US courts. A company spokesman reached by phone on Saturday declined to comment on the NPR report and referred to the earlier blog post.
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Stop offering ‘untrusted’ Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat, Washington urges US tech companies
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that TikTok and Twitter have held early talks about a potential combination, citing people familiar with the matter. It is unclear whether Twitter will pursue a deal, which would involve TikTok’s US operations, the people said.
Because Twitter is much smaller, the social media company has reasoned it probably would not face the same level of antitrust scrutiny as Microsoft or other potential bidders, people familiar with the discussions told the newspaper.
Microsoft has been negotiating for weeks with TikTok’s owner, Beijing-based ByteDance, and is considered the front-runner for any possible deal, according to the people. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke with Trump about the matter a week ago.
A TikTok spokesperson said the company does not comment on “market rumours”, in response to an inquiry on the reported talks with Twitter.
Why does Donald Trump want to ban WeChat?
Trump signed executive orders on Thursday prohibiting US residents and companies from doing business with TikTok and Tencent Holdings’ WeChat app, effective in 45 days, citing the national-security risk of leaving Americans’ personal data exposed.
He made the order under a 1977 law that lets the US president declare a national emergency in response to an “unusual and extraordinary threat”, allowing him to block transactions and seize assets.
The president is stepping up his campaign against China, betting that a hard line will help him win November’s election despite upsetting millions of younger TikTok users.
