Staff Reports
Eight TikTok content makers sued the U.S. government on Tuesday, protesting a new law that could ban the popular social media platform across the country if its Chinese parent company doesn't sell its shares within a year.
Legal representatives for the creators said that the law violates users' First Amendment rights to free speech. This was similar to what TikTok said in a different case it filed the week before. In this case, a rancher from Texas, an advocate for LGBTQ rights in Arizona, and a business owner who sells skin care products on TikTok Shop are all named as content creators.
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According to the lawsuit, these artists depend on TikTok a lot as a way to express themselves, learn new things, support causes, and make a living. They say that the new law would take away a special way for them and other people to express themselves and talk to each other.
The case was filed in a Washington appeals court, and TikTok is paying for the lawyers' fees in its entirety. The company says that the law would make it impossible for them to do business in the U.S. in terms of money, technology, and the law.
Federal law says that TikTok's parent company has to sell the platform to a qualified buyer within nine months. If a sale is already in progress, the deadline could be pushed back by three months. TikTok and ByteDance, on the other hand, say that it would not be possible to separate the U.S. TikTok site from the global TikTok network, which has 1 billion users.
A rancher from Texas who used TikTok to promote his goods and build an online community is one of the creators being sued. He was worried that losing TikTok would make it hard for him to make a living. Another author, who runs a cookie business, stressed that there is no proof that her information is in danger.
The creators want a court order saying the law is unconstitutional and an injunction stopping the Attorney General from applying it. There have been requests for comment on the situation, but the Department of Justice has not yet replied.
