ByteDance said: "For the past year, we have sought to communicate with the U.S. government with a sincere attitude and provide solutions to their concerns. The U.S. government has disregarded facts, did not follow due legal procedures, and even tried to forcefully intervene in commercial companies Negotiations. To ensure that the rule of law is not abandoned, and to ensure that the company and users are treated fairly, we will defend our rights and interests through litigation."
According to media, TikTok will also object to the Trump administration’s perception of it as a threat to U.S. national security. At the same time, it is also preparing for the worst to ensure that even if TikTok is shut down in the U.S., company employees will continue to receive corresponding remuneration. It is not yet certain in which court TikTok will file a lawsuit. For the progress of the incident, Geek Park will continue to keep an eye on it.
Double pressure from the White House
It is understood that TikTok's litigation request is related to the executive order issued by Trump on August 6.
The order prohibits any individual and company in the United States from trading with TikTok and its Chinese parent company, Bytedance. TikTok's prosecution was based on the fact that the administrative order invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and failed to follow due process.
At present, the full scope of the ban is unclear, and the Secretary of Commerce will have the authority to determine the scope of the transaction.
However, it is worth noting that the implementation period of the transaction ban is September 20. If the ban takes effect, it will cause ByteDance to be unable to pay wages to American employees. Therefore, while ByteDance is suing the US government, it is also actively preparing for a "shutdown plan."
It is understood that as part of the shutdown plan, ByteDance is actively contacting overseas banks and credit investment institutions to seek the possibility of paying wages for American employees and safeguarding other legitimate rights and interests of employees when the presidential decree takes effect.
In August, the Trump administration's ban on TikTok began to move from public opinion to administrative sanctions. Just one week later, on August 14, Trump's second executive order was issued.
The executive order, based on the findings of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), invoked the amendment to the National Defense Production Act of 1950, and Trump required Bytedance to divest TikTok's business in the United States within 90 days (possibly extended to 120 days).
According to industry analysts, the two administrative orders invoked different laws, so they are mutually independent and implemented side by side. The administrative order on August 6 is intended to curb the global business of Bytedance, while the administrative order on August 14 is clear ByteDance must divest TikTok's US business.
In the executive order on August 14, Trump ordered ByteDance to immediately proceed to withdraw funds from TikTok in accordance with CFIUS requirements, including all tangible and intangible assets related to TikTok, and all withdrawals or withdrawals from TikTok or Musical.ly Derived data related to US users.
Trump also requested that ByteDance needs to submit a list of TikTok buyers to CFIUS. ByteDance can complete TikTok delivery only 10 days after submitting the list and CFIUS has not expressed objections.
As a result, TikTok has only two choices left, either to sell the US business to a US company, or to exit the US market directly. Even if TikTok initiates a lawsuit against the administrative order on August 6, it may not be able to change the outcome of Bytedance having to split TikTok's US business.
In addition to the company’s official lawsuits, TikTok’s American employees are also spontaneously filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing Trump’s ban as an administrative ultra vires, which will damage the constitutional rights of TikTok’s employees, including the right to obtain remuneration.
TikTok US General Manager Vanessa Pappas emphasized in an interview on August 20 that she opposed the CFIUS ruling and did not see any evidence that could support TikTok's threat to US national security.
Pappas said that TikTok will continue to operate its popular music video application in the United States, regardless of the consequences of the US government's ban on its business.
TikTok's fight
TikTok was forced to ask for the sale of its business in the United States. So far, there have been reports of intentional acquirers including Microsoft, Twitter, Oracle, Google, and Sequoia Capital . The earliest quoted price was US$50 billion.
With the Trump administration pressing harder, a recent Bloomberg report pointed out that "TikTok's business valuation in the United States is between 2 billion and 50 billion U.S. dollars." Obviously, the 2 billion lower limit of quotation greatly underestimates TikTok's value. value.
Some insiders analyzed that although the overall situation of negotiations with the US government has been determined, ByteDance seeks all available legal weapons to protect its rights and interests, to some extent, to prevent TikTok from being forced to sell at a low price.
In the statement by Bytedance announcing the prosecution of the Trump administration, it mentioned that in the past year, the company has been seeking to communicate with the U.S. government to provide solutions to their concerns.
In response to children's privacy issues, TikTok has launched a youth mode. This is a security and privacy protection function designed for users under 13 years old. Compared with the normal mode, young users can only watch filtered videos in this mode, and are not allowed to share personal information and videos, nor can they send private messages and comments.
In response to data security issues, as early as 2019, TikTok announced that it would migrate the data of US users to a US data center, and content review would also be moved to the local area accordingly. To further increase transparency, TikTok has also established a transparency and accountability center.
Through this center, the outside world can understand TikTok's review policy and check TikTok's actual algorithm code.
Like Facebook and Twitter, TikTok has also started publishing transparency reports. Its recently released report shows that TikTok has deleted 49 million so-called illegal videos worldwide, of which India and the United States are the countries with the most deleted video sources.
In order to face the global market with a neutral attitude, Bytedance also pays more attention to the allocation of international talents in terms of personnel. At present, in addition to TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer, ByteDance already has seven overseas core executives, including former Microsoft chief intellectual property consultant Erich Andersen, US Air Force and Department of Defense cyber security expert Roland Cloutier, etc.
Faced with the pressure from the White House, Bytedance has actually been making continuous layers of resistance. ByteDance chooses to use the "complete transparency" of the business mechanism to prevent it from being "mixed up".
As TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer said: "At this critical moment, we are taking greater steps to develop in-depth dialogue around algorithms, transparency and content review, and to develop stricter rules. We are taking the first step to solve these problems. ."
ByteDance will formally sue the Trump administration, which inevitably reminds people of the incident that Huawei filed a lawsuit against the White House. The litigation is a protracted battle. Whether it is against Huawei or TikTok, this may be an action that cannot be reversed with a small gain. Therefore, the significance of making this choice lies in the extension of one's own position and attitude. This is TikTok's hard work.
As Zhang Yiming mentioned in his previous internal letter, “We will not treat TikTok as an inanimate asset. In this process, we will do our best to protect the unique existence of TikTok, and hope that TikTok’s user experience can be influences."
0 Comments