TikTok’s fight with the Trump administration doesn’t yet appear to be over, regardless of what the deal that was signed between its parent company ByteDance and Oracle says over the weekend.
Earlier today, the company filed a motion to stop the Commerce Department from enforcing a ban against the popular social app. That ban was supposed to come into place on Sunday, but after the signing of the ByteDance/Oracle deal, it was delayed by a week, with additional delays expected as the deal closes in the coming weeks.
Now though, the company seems to be taking more aggressive action to stop the government. It’s perhaps looking at the plight of another app, WeChat, whose users successfully argued for an injunction in San Francisco federal court this weekend that blocked the app from being banned on Sunday by the Commerce Department. Unlike in WeChat’s case, where the lawsuit was brought by American citizens rather than its owner Tencent, TikTok itself filed its lawsuit against President Trump and the government, originally filing its lawsuit on September 18th, according to court records.
In its filing for an injunction, the company says that it has “made extraordinary efforts to try to satisfy the government’s ever-shifting demands and purported national security concerns, including through changes in the ownership and structure of [its] business, and [we] are continuing to do so.”
In particular, the company noted that the damage of the ban could be significant, arguing that “hundreds of millions of Americans who have not yet downloaded TikTok will be shut out … six weeks before a national election.” The company argues that President Trump and the Commerce Department exceeded its authority under existing legislation to enforce a ban, which mirror arguments made in the WeChat case this weekend.
It’s just the latest challenge in a sprawling situation that changes by the hour. Overnight, my colleague Rita Liao noted that China itself may not even approve the ByteDance/Oracle deal, calling it “extortion” and putting the whole framework for TikTok moving forward in doubt.
