TikTok drags US govt to court over President Trump’s threat of ban

TikTok asked a judge to block the Trump administration from enacting a ban on the Chinese social-media network, as the company brought a geopolitical fight over technology and trade into a U.S. courtroom.

TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance Ltd., filed a complaint in Washington federal court late Friday night challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order that would block U.S. companies from doing business with them.

Trump exceeded his authority when he moved to ban the app, and did so for political reasons rather than to stop an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the U.S., as the law requires, according to the complaint. TikTok also said the ban violates the company’s First Amendment free speech rights.