By Jody Godoy
(Reuters) – TikTok informed a federal appeals court docket on Thursday that the U.S. Division of Justice has misstated the social media app’s ties to China, urging the court docket to overturn a legislation requiring China-based ByteDance to promote TikTok’s U.S. property or face a ban.
TikTok, which has sued to overturn the legislation, mentioned the Justice Division has made factual errors within the case. The division’s attorneys mentioned final month that the app poses a nationwide safety threat by permitting the Chinese language authorities to gather the information of People and covertly manipulate what content material they see.
TikTok mentioned on Thursday it’s undisputed that the app’s content material advice engine and person knowledge are saved within the U.S. on cloud servers operated by Oracle (NYSE:) and that content material moderation selections that have an effect on U.S. customers are made within the U.S.
Signed by President Joe Biden on April 24, the legislation provides ByteDance till Jan. 19 to promote TikTok or face a ban. The White Home says it desires to see Chinese language-based possession ended on nationwide safety grounds, however not a ban on TikTok.
The appeals court docket will maintain oral arguments on the authorized problem on Sept. 16, placing the difficulty of TikTok’s destiny into the ultimate weeks of the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has joined TikTok and mentioned in June he would by no means help a TikTok ban.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, joined TikTok in July and leaned in to social media as a part of her marketing campaign technique.
TikTok argued on Thursday that the legislation would strip the corporate of its free-speech rights, arguing in opposition to the Justice Division’s declare that the brief video app’s content material curation selections are “the speech of a foreigner” and never protected by the U.S. Structure.
“By the federal government’s logic, a U.S. newspaper that republishes the content material of a overseas publication – Reuters, for instance – would lack constitutional safety,” the corporate mentioned.
The legislation prohibits app shops like Apple (NASDAQ:), and Alphabet (NASDAQ:)’s Google, from providing TikTok and bars web internet hosting providers from supporting TikTok until it’s divested by ByteDance.
Pushed by worries amongst U.S. lawmakers that China might entry knowledge on People or spy on them with the app, Congress overwhelmingly handed the measure simply weeks after it was launched.