TIKTOK CHALLENGES BAN

TikTok and its parent company ByteDance challenged the U.S. government in a legal filing Tuesday over a new law forcing the sale or ban of the social media giant, igniting a high-stakes court battle in Washington that could prove to be an existential fight for one of the world’s most popular apps. In its 67-page petition for review of the law’s constitutionality, filed against Attorney General Merrick Garland, TikTok and ByteDance argue that the law would give the government unprecedented power to control or dismantle a speech platform it dislikes. “Banning TikTok is so obviously unconstitutional, in fact, that even the Act’s sponsors recognized that reality, and therefore have tried mightily to depict the law not as a ban at all, but merely a regulation of TikTok’s ownership,” the challenge states. “In reality, there is no choice,” it adds. A forced sale “is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally.”