Madeline Sponsler, FISM News

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TikTok on Monday sued U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration over his executive order banning transactions in the United States with the popular short-form video-sharing app, calling it a pretext to fuel anti-China rhetoric as he seeks reelection.

TikTok and its parent ByteDance Ltd rejected what they called the White House’s position that it was a national security threat, saying they had taken “extraordinary measures to protect the privacy and security of TikTok’s U.S. user data.”

They also described Trump’s call in his Aug. 6 executive order for a TikTok ban as a means to further his alleged “broader campaign of anti-China rhetoric” ahead of the Nov. 3 U.S. presidential election, where Trump is seeking a second term.

“We do not take suing the government lightly,” TikTok said in a blog post. “But with the Executive Order threatening to bring a ban on our U.S. operations … we simply have no choice.”

TikTok and ByteDance are seeking a permanent injunction to block Trump from enforcing his Aug. 6 order. They allege the Trump administration violated their constitutional right to due process by banning the company without the opportunity to respond to accusations.

They also allege Trump lacked proper legal authority to issue the order, saying he misused the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which lets the president regulate international commerce during a national emergency.

Sourced from Reuters American Wire