TikTok Attorney Argues Against Law That Requires Chinese Divestiture

WASHINGTON -- TikTok argued last week in federal court in Washington, D.C., that a law requiring it to divest from its Chinese parent company is unconstitutional.

Congress approved a law in April that says TikTok must divest from Chinese government-controlled ByteDance or be banned, which would be the equivalent of a forced sale.

The short-form video hosting service claims about 170 million U.S. users.

The Justice Department argues that TikTok could be used to spread Chinese propaganda, potentially interfering with U.S. elections. Presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump both use TikTok to appeal to young voters.

Some lawmakers accused TikTok during a congressional hearing of sharing personal data of Americans with Beijing-based ByteDance, which then transfers it to the Chinese military.

TikTok denies it is influenced by the Chinese government. It also says it is merely operating within its First Amendment free speech rights.

President Joe Biden signed the law in April that gave TikTok nine months to divest the app or be blocked from the United States. It would be allowed to sell its assets only to a non-Chinese owner.

TikTok seeks an injunction against enforcement of the law through the lawsuit it filed in May.

"For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than 1 billion people worldwide," TikTok’s lawsuit says.

TikTok attorney Andrew Pincus denied during the hearing in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the company concealed any intent to spy on Americans.

“TikTok Inc. is a U.S. entity that engages in First Amendment free speech,” he told the three-judge panel.

He added that “the record is simply not that clear” of Chinese manipulation of TikTok or its data.

He warned against any ban of the social media giant that would be enforced by the federal law.

“Its effect would be staggering,” Pincus said.

Justice Department attorney Daniel Tenney said TikTok gathers enormous amounts of data on Americans using a computer program written by Chinese engineers with about two billion lines of code.

The data is supposed to guide TikTok users to their preferred videos.

“They want to keep people’s eyeballs on those screens,” Tenney said.

He added, “The problem is that that same data is extremely useful to a foreign adversary trying to compromise the security of the United States.”

He disagreed that First Amendment free speech was the central issue.

“That has nothing to do with protected speech by American citizens,” Tenney said.

Judge Neomi Rao suggested that the federal law potentially banning TikTok was “aimed at foreign ownership of a corporation” and potential “covert influence” rather than free speech.

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