TikTok to begin appeal against possible US ban
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy TikTok will go head-to-head with the US government on Monday as it launches an appeal against new laws which require the social media giant to split from its China-based parent firm, or face a ban. In April, US President Joe Biden signed a new law which gave TikTok until January next year to separate its US business from parent firm ByteDance, whose ties to China are seen as a national security threat by the American government. In court documents submitted over the summer, the US Justice Department laid out the government’s two main concerns – that TikTok collects vast amounts of user data and this could fall into the hands of the Chinese government, and that the algorithm that powers recommendations on the site is vulnerable to manipulation by Beijing. TikTok has repeatedly said it does not share US user data with the Chinese government, and in its appeal warned that a break-up would not be possible and the app would have to shut down if the courts don not intervene to block the law.