TikTok to sue Trump administration as soon as Tuesday, US media report says
- Company seeking to challenge president’s order banning popular video-service app from operating in US, according to NPR
- Separate report says TikTok and Twitter have held early talks about potential merger
TikTok plans to file a federal lawsuit as soon as Tuesday to challenge President Donald Trump’s executive order banning the video-sharing service from the US as unconstitutional, National Public Radio reported.
The lawsuit will be filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of California, where TikTok’s American operations are based, NPR said, citing a person familiar with the matter whom it did not identify.
It will argue that the president’s action is unconstitutional because it failed to give the company a chance to respond and that the US government’s national-security justification for the order is baseless, according the report.
Chinese-owned TikTok responded in a blog post on Friday it is “shocked” and will pursue all remedies available, including in US courts. A company spokesman reached by phone on Saturday declined to comment on the NPR report and referred to the earlier blog post.
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Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday that TikTok and Twitter have held early talks about a potential combination, citing people familiar with the matter. It is unclear whether Twitter will pursue a deal, which would involve TikTok’s US operations, the people said.