TikTok to sue Trump administration sometime next week: report

TikTok has plans to sue the Trump administration over President Trump’s executive order on Thursday that targeted the Chinese-owned app, a person with direct knowledge of the pending complaint told NPR.

NPR’s source said that the wildly popular video app could file the lawsuit as early as Tuesday, adding it will be filed with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, where the company’s American headquarters is located.

Trump’s executive order basically forces the Chinese tech company ByteDance, which owns TikTok, to sell the app within 45 days or see the app banned in the U.S.

“The spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” the executive order states. “At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile application in particular, TikTok.”

The White House has grown increasingly weary of TikTok, with the administration claiming that TikTok is selling American user data to the Chinese government. TikTok has repeatedly said that it would never do this.

“It’s based on pure speculation and conjecture,” the source told NPR. “The order has no findings of fact, just reiterates rhetoric about China that has been kicking around.”

TikTok declined comment, referring The Hill to an earlier statement it had made about the president’s executive order. 

“We are shocked by the recent Executive Order, which was issued without any due process. For nearly a year, we have sought to engage with the US government in good faith to provide a constructive solution to the concerns that have been expressed,” the previous statement said. “We 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.”

White House spokesman Judd Deere declined to comment on the reported litigation but told the radio station, “The administration is committed to protecting the American people from all cyber-related threats to critical infrastructure, public health and safety, and our economic and national security.”

The Hill has reached out to the White House for further comment.