Covington & Burling Represented TikTok In Petition Against Its Ban Before US Court

Covington & Burling Represented TikTok In Petition Against Its Ban Before US Court

TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance have lodged a lawsuit in the United States (US) Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, contesting a law enacted by the US Government that Mandates a ban on the app.

The company has contested the constitutionality of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, 2023, signed into Law by US President Joe Biden on April 24.

The ban was instigated based on the belief that the Chinese government could access Americans' data or conduct surveillance through the app. The Act prohibits app stores from offering TikTok and bars internet hosting services from supporting TikTok unless ByteDance divests its shares in the company by January 19, 2025.

"The “qualified divestiture” demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally. And certainly not on the 270-day timeline required by the Act. Petitioners have repeatedly explained this to the U.S. government, and sponsors of the Act were aware that divestment is not possible. There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere," the plea stated.

Some argue that the law represents an unprecedented measure of specifically targeting TikTok, potentially breaching provisions of the US Constitution, including the First Amendment's protections for free speech.

It is submitted in the plea that:

"Even if a “qualified divestiture” were feasible, the Act would still be an extraordinary and unconstitutional assertion of power. If upheld, it would allow the government to decide that a company may no longer own and publish the innovative and unique speech platform it created. If Congress can do this, it can circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the publisher of any individual newspaper or website to sell to avoid being shut down. And for TikTok, any such divestiture would disconnect Americans from the rest of the global community on a platform devoted to shared content."

TikTok is represented by Alexander Berengaut, David Zionts, Megan Crowley, John Hall and Anders Linderot of Covington & Burling LLP.

In 2020, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) of the Indian government banned 59 Chinese mobile apps, including TikTok, citing concerns that they were involved in activities detrimental to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of the state, and public order.

The ban was prompted by emergent threats, with numerous complaints received regarding data security and privacy risks associated with the use of these apps by Indian users.

"On the basis of these and upon receiving of recent credible inputs that such Apps pose threat to sovereignty and integrity of India, the Government of India has decided to disallow the usage of certain Apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile Internet enabled devices," a press release issued by MEITY stated.