Chinese video app TikTok is going to take legal action to challenge the sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump. According to the BBC, the Tiktok authorities expected the legal process to begin this week.
All transactions with TikTok-owned company ByteDance will be closed from mid-September, said Donald Trump’s executive order.
Officials in Washington fear that ByteDance could provide information on American TikTok users to Chinese government. ByteDance, however, has denied such allegations. The number of active users of TikTok in the US is 80 million.
Tiktok said they have been trying to contact Trump administration for a year. It has had to deal with a lack of proper procedures and an administration that does not pay attention to the truth.
“To ensure that the rule of law is not discarded and that our company and users are treated fairly,” a spokesperson of ByteDance said.
“We have no choice but to challenge the executive order through the judicial system,” he added.
Users posted short video clips on international politics, ranging from dance to the TikTok platform. In recent months, the popularity of TikTok has grown exponentially, especially among teenagers. The app has been downloaded more than 100 million times worldwide.
US President Donald Trump has claimed China will be able to use TikTok app to track the whereabouts of US government officials and employees. The country will also secretly monitor various organizations.
Donald Trump said that various mobile apps owned and created by Chinese companies pose a “threat to national security, foreign policy and the US economy”.
In the executive order, Trump claimed the information collected by Chinese apps passed to the Chinese Communist Party, putting Americans at risk of knowing personal and proprietary information.
However, TikTok said they never provided any information to Chinese authorities.
Not only the US, but also India banned TikTok. Australia is mulling similar measures too.
