TikTok and its employees sue Trump administration over ban in US - CNET

TikTok and an employee are suing the Trump administration in two separate lawsuits over an executive order that would effectively ban the short-form video app in the US on Sept. 20. 

The company's lawsuit (embedded below) was filed Monday in the US District Court for the Central District of California. TikTok said the Aug. 6 executive order issued by President Donald Trump didn't follow due process or provide "evidence that TikTok was an actual threat." The order also failed to justify its "punitive actions," the company said in a blog post.

A separate lawsuit, filed later Monday in US District Court for Northern California by a TikTok employee, calls the order "sweepingly broad" and questions whether employee wages and salaries will be covered by a section of the order that bans transactions with the company.

"The 1,500 TikTok employees working in the US -- as well as their families -- need to know whether they will be paid next month," reads the complaint from plaintiff Patrick Ryan.

TikTok, which has more than 100 million American users, argued in its lawsuit that it was deprived the opportunity to respond, and said the national security concerns surrounding the app are without merit.

"The executive order is not rooted in bona fide national security concerns," reads the company's complaint. "Independent national security and information security experts have criticized the political nature of this executive order, and expressed doubt as to whether its stated national security objective is genuine."

Trump's executive order bars any US transactions with TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance. The order states that the data TikTok collects "threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information," and could allow China to track the location of federal employees and contractors. Under the order, TikTok would be banned in the US unless another company acquires the app. 

The executive order followed India's move in June to ban TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps. India cited national security concerns for the actions.

TikTok says it has never turned over US user data to the Chinese government, and wouldn't do so even if it were asked. The company has also denied that it censors content critical of the Chinese government. Analysts for the CIA told the White House that it's possible for Chinese intelligence officials to use TikTok to intercept data "to bore into smartphones" but there's no evidence that has happened, The Times reported.