TikTok Vows To Challenge New US Law in Court: “This Is A Ban”, No Mistake.

TikTok has long been a target for American authorities, and new legislation now requires the platform to sever ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance within nine months, or face exclusion from the American market. The US and Western officials have accused TikTok of enabling Beijing to gather user data and conduct surveillance. With 170 million users in the US, many of whom are young, the app has been criticized as a potential tool for spreading propaganda. Both China and the company vehemently deny these allegations.

The move has been labeled as a ban by some, with sponsors of the bill acknowledging that a TikTok ban is indeed the ultimate goal. In response, TikTok’s spokesperson emphasized their commitment to defending users’ rights in court, assuring that the platform will persist. The legislation, which could lead to the rare step of barring a company from the US market, received strong bipartisan support in both the Senate, with a 79-18 vote, and the House of Representatives. If enacted, ByteDance would be required to sell the app or face exclusion from Apple and Google’s app stores in the US.

Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X (formerly Twitter), recently spoke out against banning TikTok, asserting that such an action would contradict the principles of freedom of speech and expression.