WASHINGTON, April 25 — TikTok's chief executive said on Wednesday the social media company expects to win a legal challenge to block legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden that he said would ban its popular short video app used by 170 million Americans.
"Rest assured — we aren't going anywhere," CEO Chew Shou Zi said in a video posted moments after Biden signed the bill that gives China-based ByteDance 270 days to divest TikTok's US assets or face a ban. "The facts and the Constitution are on our side and we expect to prevail again."
Biden's signing sets a January 19 deadline for a sale — one day before his term is set to expire — but he could extend the deadline by three months if he determines ByteDance is making progress. Biden is seeking a second term against former President Donald Trump.
"We don't want to see a ban," White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday. "This is about PRC ownership," she added, referring to the People's Republic of China.
In 2020, Trump was blocked by the courts in his bid to ban TikTok and Chinese-owned WeChat, a unit of Tencent, in the United States. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has reversed course and said on Monday that Biden was "pushing" for a ban on TikTok and would be the one responsible if a ban were imposed, urging voters to take notice.
"Make no mistake — this is a ban on TikTok," Chew said, emphasising that TikTok would continue to operate as the company challenges the restrictions.
Many experts question if any potential buyer has the financial resources to buy TikTok and if China and US government agencies would approve a sale.
Driven by widespread worries among US lawmakers that China could access Americans' data or surveil them with the app, the bill was overwhelmingly passed late on Tuesday by the US Senate. The US House of Representatives approved it on Saturday.
The four-year battle over TikTok is a significant front in a war over the internet and technology between Washington and Beijing. Last week, Apple said China had ordered it to remove Meta Platforms' WhatsApp and Threads from its App Store in China over Chinese national security concerns.
TikTok is set to challenge the bill on First Amendment grounds and TikTok users are expected to again take legal action.
The American Civil Liberties Union said banning or requiring divestiture of TikTok would "set an alarming global precedent for excessive government control over social media platforms".
— Reuters
