TikTok will sue President Donald Trump over his administration's decision to ban the app in the US, according to a person familiar with the lawsuit.
This revelation comes after Trump issued an executive order to ban US transactions with its parent company, ByteDance. The Chinese company previously warned about making a legal move against the US government.
The president's executive order accuses TikTok of collecting users’ data, which “threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans’ personal and proprietary information.”
Trump issued executive orders that would ban TikTok and WeChat in the US in 45 days if sold by their Chinese-owned parent companies. This means the apps will be prohibited from operating in the US if their Chinese-owned parent companies fail to sell them in 45 days.
The orders did not indicate that a certain amount of money from the sale needs to be sent to the US Treasury Department, which Trump has been insisting on in the past few days.
Prior to the issuance of the executive orders, Trump said he demanded a “substantial portion”of the purchase price during a call he had with Microsoft regarding it’s possible deal for the US unit of TikTok.
Microsoft's plan of buying TikTok
Microsoft previously announced it is planning to buy TikTok.
According to Microsoft, it will continue working with the US government on a deal and plans to finalize the talks by September 15.
Microsoft’s statement comes two days after media outlets revealed the company’s interest in buying TikTok, which is owned by ByteDance.
“This new structure would build on the experience TikTok users currently love, while adding world-class security, privacy, and digital safety protections,” Microsoft said.
The tech giant added: “The operating model for the service would be built to ensure transparency to users as well as appropriate security oversight by governments in these countries.”
He also warned that he will ban Chinese tech firm ByteDance’s video sharing app if no deal has been signed by September 15. ByteDance is being pressured to sell its US business after Trump declared a possible ban on Chinese tech companies.
The White House did not immediately give a comment on the news that TikTok will sue Trump and his administration. TikTok also refused to comment beyond their Friday statement, which said the company will “pursue all remedies available to us in order to ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and that our company and our users are treated fairly – if not by the Administration, then by the US courts.”
Meanwhile, the executive order issued for Tencent-owned WeChat, which allows its users to transfer funds to each other, states that financial transactions with Tencent will be banned.
The order prohibits “any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. (a.k.a. Téngxùn Kònggǔ Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī), Shenzhen, China, or any subsidiary of that entity, as identified by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) under section 1(c) of this order.”
US policymakers have been expressing concerns regarding possible national security issues surrounding the apps.
