China’s ByteDance challenges Trump’s TikTok divestiture order

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON: ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of video-sharing app TikTok, filed a petition late on Tuesday with a U.S. Appeals Court challenging a Trump administration order set to take effect on Thursday requiring it to divest TikTok.

President Donald Trump in an Aug. 14 order directed ByteDance to divest the app within 90 days, which falls on Thursday. The Trump administration contends TikTok poses national security concerns as the personal data of U.S. users could be obtained by China’s government. TikTok, which has over 100 million U.S. users, denies the allegations.

In the petition filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, ByteDance said it is seeking a court review of the divestment order, claiming that the order and a finding by a U.S. agency that TikTok represented a security threat were unlawful and violated rights under the U.S. Constitution.