The lawsuit is the first legal challenge to the deal with China’s ByteDance, but does not seek to force a US ban on the short-video platform.
Donald Trump and his attorney general were sued on Thursday by retail investors in two social media rivals of TikTok seeking to reverse the US president’s approval of a deal by the company’s Chinese owner ByteDance to form a majority American-owned joint venture.
The lawsuit, the first legal challenge to the deal, argues that Trump’s approval last year violated requirements set out in a 2024 divestiture law. Two California residents who hold shares in Alphabet and Meta Platforms sued, backed by a group called the Public Integrity Project.
The lawsuit, which also names US Attorney General Pam Bondi, aims to require a renegotiation of the deal “that doesn’t put [Trump] administration allies in a position to censor political content on one of the world’s most popular media platforms”.
The lawsuit could shed light on the joint venture, which is key to TikTok’s survival in the United States and has faced criticism from some lawmakers.
The suit does not seek to force a US ban on TikTok, which is used by 200 million Americans, said Brendan Ballou, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs.
Is the proposed TikTok sale to US and global investors a done deal?
A law passed by Congress in April 2024 required ByteDance to sell its US assets by a January 2025 deadline or face a ban or potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in fines.
Source: News - South China Morning Post
