TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew testifies before a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing entitled “TikTok: How Congress can Safeguard American Data Privacy and Protect Children from Online Harms,” as lawmakers scrutinize the Chinese-owned video-sharing app, on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 23, 2023.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
The future of TikTok is more uncertain than ever after the social media company sued the U.S. government on Tuesday over a law that would force Chinese parent ByteDance to sell the app or face a national ban.
President Joe Biden signed legislation in April that gives ByteDance nine months to find a buyer for the popular short-form video app, and a three month extension if a deal is in progress. The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, as it’s known, passed with bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress.
TikTok arguesthat the bill violates the First Amendment, and that divestiture is “simply not possible: not …