The Chinese owned app TikTok is reportedly planning to challenge the executive order issued by U.S. President Donald Trump to ban the app's operations in the U.S. It is reported that the company would possibly file a federal lawsuit to challenge the order soon.
TikTok has its U.S. headquarters located in the Southern District of California and might file the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in the region. The company is likely to challenge the constitutionality of the ban and Trump Administration's claims that TikTok is a national security threat.
On Thursday, Trump signed executive orders that gave a 45 days deadline to American companies to break off their ties with ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, and another Chinese owned service for messages, WeChat. When the news of the signed executive order broke, TikTok already started opposing it.
TikTok objected that the order was issued without any due process and was a risk to global businesses' trust in America's commitment to the rule of law. The company further complained that it was highly unprecedented of the White House to claim that the operations of a foreign business subsidiary in the U.S. is a national security threat.
ByteDance is currently trying to figure out how to unwind its U.S. operations through a sale deal that it made with Microsoft earlier and tackle the Trump Administration's decision for the ban. Microsoft released a statement about the ongoing talks with ByteDance following the announcement of Trump's executive order. The company said in its statement that it is "prepared to continue discussions to explore a purchase of TikTok in the United States." and further added that it "fully appreciates the importance of addressing the President’s concerns. It is committed to acquiring TikTok subject to a complete security review and providing proper economic benefits to the United States, including the United States Treasury.”.
According to analysts and bankers, TikTok's U.S. business is approximately worth anywhere from $20 billion to $50 billion as the company has an astounding user base of over 100 million users in the U.S.
