TikTok slams Trump executive order that effectively bans the app
The order was issued without due process, TikTok says.
TikTok fired back at an executive order that would essentially ban its app, saying the Trump administration had denied the social media company due process. TikTok said it would challenge the order, which President Donald Trump issued Thursday evening.
"We are shocked by the recent Executive Order, which was issued without any due process," the social media company said in a blog post. "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."
Trump threatened to ban TikTok earlier this week unless the app, which is owned by Chinese internet conglomerate ByteDance, is acquired by a US company. Microsoft has been in talks about buying some or all of TikTok. The president's executive order, which would bar "transactions" with ByteDance or its subsidiaries, called the wide use of the app a "national emergency" due to its links to China. The executive order goes into effect 45 days after it was issued.
TikTok said the order "sets a dangerous precedent for the concept of free expression and open markets." The company complained that the order relied on unnamed reports that lack citation.
TikTok accused the administration of acting in bad faith after the company had worked with officials to address concerns about the app.
"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 blog post reads. "What we encountered instead was that the Administration paid no attention to facts, dictated terms of an agreement without going through standard legal processes, and tried to insert itself into negotiations between private businesses."
The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.