TikTok Sues Trump Administration In A Separate Lawsuit, Cites Ban To Murky Political Ploy

Founders of TikTok on Monday sued the Trump administration for banning the viral video-sharing app in the United States as part of a murky “election ploy,” as President Trump pines for a second term.

News is rife that TikTok and its parent firm ByteDance are taking firm measures to fight Trump’s executive order from being enforced.

“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,” added the Chinese firm. They also accused the Trump administration of unlawfully banning the company without allowing them to speak in their defense.

The Trump administration raised eyebrows when it put forth a blanket ban on a volley of Chinese apps -- including the hugely popular TikTok and WeChat, earlier this month, citing security reasons. But, bigwigs of TikTok rejected the stance, as the organization repeatedly maintained that “extraordinary measures to protect the privacy and security of TikTok’s U.S. user data.”

Speculations have run amok ever since Trump’s executive order called for an immediate ban of TikTok and its transactions in the U.S., as critics sided with viral short-video app’s perspective that the ban mirrored Trump’s political agenda to further his alleged “broader campaign of anti-China rhetoric” ahead of the November presidential elections.

The President’s abrupt ban has put scores of jobs, especially those on employment visas, in jeopardy. Patrick Ryan, a technical program manager at TikTok, sued the Trump administration for putting the careers of many at risk, given how many employees working out of TikTok’s U.S. office are likely to be fired if Trump’s order becomes enforced. Many are irked by how the executive order is laced with “unconstitutional vagueness.”

Many employees are of the opinion that the call for ban taken by the Trump government was uncalled for, as they believe these decisions aren’t for the government to consider.

The White House redirected the request for comment to the U.S. Department of Justice, which declined to comment on the Company’s lawsuit. The DoJ additionally refused to comment on Ryan’s case and comments.