TikTok is fighting a new US law that would force its Chinese parent company to divest from the company or face a ban.
ADVERTISEMENTLawyers for TikTok argued in a court document on Thursday that the social media platform is not stripped of its US rights because it is owned by a foreign organisation, comparing the company to several media organisations.
The US Justice Department argued last month in a legal brief that neither TikTok's China-based parent company, ByteDance, nor the platform's global and US arms were entitled to the US Constitution's First Amendment protections because they are "foreign organisations operating abroad" or owned by one.
TikTok attorneys have made the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech, a key part of their legal challenge to the new law requiring ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a ban.
US President Joe Biden signed the new law in April giving ByteDance nine months to sell the platform, with a possible three-month extension. Otherwise, TikTok faces a ban.
"No precedent supports the government’s dramatic rewriting of what counts as protected speech," TikTok's lawyers argued in a court document.
"Surely the American companies that publish Politico, Fortune, and Business Insider do not lose First Amendment protection because they have foreign ownership," the attorneys wrote.
Besides listing multiple media organisations, TikTok's lawyers pointed out that there is a video game developer and several book publishers owned by foreign companies.
'Failed to create sufficient separation between US operations and China'
In a redacted court filing made last month, the Justice Department argued ByteDance and TikTok have not raised valid free speech claims in their challenge against the law, saying the measure addresses national security concerns about TikTok’s ownership without targeting protected speech.
The Biden administration and TikTok had held talks in recent years aimed at resolving the government's concerns. But the two sides failed to reach a deal.
TikTok said the government essentially walked away from the negotiating table after it proposed a 90-page agreement that detailed how the company planned to address concerns about the app while still maintaining ties with ByteDance.
However, the Justice Department has said TikTok’s proposal "failed to create sufficient separation between the company’s US operations and China" and did not adequately address some of the government’s concerns.
Oral arguments in the case are scheduled to begin on September 16.
