TikTok Will File An Appeal Against Its Ban In The United States

TikTok claims to have 170 million American users when suing the US government

JAKARTA - TikTok will start filing its case on Monday against a law that will ban it in the US, unless its owner in China, ByteDance, sells it within nine months.

The United States is worried that its people's user data will be exploited by the Chinese government. The President of the United States, Joe Bidden, has also passed a ban on Tiktok in April.

Meanwhile TikTok and ByteDance denied having ties to Chinese authorities and described the law as "extraordinary disturbances to the right to free speech."

The social media company, which claims to have more than 170 million American users, will present its arguments before a panel of three judges at an appeals court in Washington DC.

Reporting from the BBC, the company's representatives joined eight TikTok creators, including a Texas farmer and a Tennessee baker, who said they relied on the platform to market their products and make a living.

Lawyers from the Justice Department (DoJ) will then proceed to explain their case. In addition to data issues, Justice Department officials and lawmakers have expressed concern over the prospects for TikTok used by the Chinese government to spread propaganda to Americans.

However, supporters of America's strong right to free speech, immortalized in the First Amendment to the US Constitution, say that enforcing the law of revocation or ban is a reward for authoritarian regimes everywhere.

"We don't need to be surprised if the world's repressive government cites this precedent to justify new restrictions on the rights of their own citizens to access information, ideas and media from abroad," said Xiangnong Wang, a lawyer at the Knight First Amendment Institute, Columbia University.

However, according to James Lewis, from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, the law is designed to contain judicial oversight.

"The substance of the case against TikTok is very strong. The important point is whether the court accepts that divestment requirements do not regulate free speech," Lewis said.

Lewis added that courts usually leave decisions to the president regarding national security issues. Despite how the appeals court in deciding, most of the country's legal experts agree that the case could last for months, even longer.

"Nothing will be resolved next week. This is a high-risk and very complicated puzzle that is likely to get to the Supreme Court." said Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at analyst firm Forrester.