Chinanews client, Beijing, August 25 (Reporter Wu Tao) On August 24, local time, TikTok formally filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in the United States. The reporter learned from ByteDance on the 25th that the indictment stated that Trump’s August 6 executive order was unconstitutional and three ultra vires, and advocated the abolition of the executive order and the prohibition of the Ministry of Commerce from implementing the executive order.

　　Previously, on August 6, U.S. President Trump invoked the U.S. "International Emergency Economic Powers Act" (IEEPA) to require individuals and entities subject to U.S. jurisdiction to not exchange words after September 20 (45 days after the issuance of the executive order). Nothing "transactions" between Jade and its subsidiaries.

Image source: Screenshot of TikTok official website.

The complaint claims that four administrative orders are unconstitutional and three are ultra vires

　　TikTok's complaint stated that the executive order and any implementing regulations related to it by the US Department of Commerce are unconstitutional and illegal.

　　First, the process of the administrative order is unconstitutional: it did not give ByteDance and TikTok notifications for TikTok bans, and did not provide an opportunity to appeal, which violated the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution regarding due process.

　　Second, the basis of the executive order is illegal and constitutes ultra vires: IEEPA grants the President of the United States to protect national security, foreign policy and the economy, and to restrict and control economic transactions based on the national emergency in response to "abnormal conditions and special threats" Power. The administrative order used vague expressions such as "potential", "probable" and "reportedly" throughout the article, and there is no evidence of actual threats caused by byte beating.

　　Third, the administrative order extends the scope of attacks to Bytedance, which constitutes ultra vires: The administrative order requires individuals and entities not to conduct any "transactions" with Bytedance and its subsidiaries, but even the so-called "threats" only point to TikTok, and TikTok is just one of the many businesses of Bytedance.

　　Fourth, the administrative order restricts personal communication and the transmission of information materials, which constitutes ultra vires: this directly violates the provisions of IEEPA, which clearly prohibits administrative actions that hinder personal information communication and exchange.

　　Fifth, the IEEPA on which the executive order is based violates the "principle of prohibition of authorization" and constitutes an unconstitutional: IEEPA's authorization is too vague and does not specify the guiding or binding principles of the president's discretionary powers, thus violating the three powers of the US Constitution Principle of separation.

　　Sixth, it is unconstitutional to compulsory payment of remuneration to the U.S. Department of the Treasury for the sale of TikTok US assets: this violates the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution that restricts the government's power to deprive private property.

　　Seventh, the executive order prohibits TikTok from operating in the United States, which constitutes an unconstitutional: TikTok’s code is a speech protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and the complete shutdown of TikTok’s U.S. operations goes far beyond the necessary measures to protect government interests. Violated the provisions of the First Amendment on freedom of speech.

　　This lawsuit was filed jointly by TikTok and ByteDance. The objects of the lawsuit include US President Trump, US Secretary of Commerce Ross and the US Department of Commerce.

"The Trump Administration ignored the evidence and refused to communicate"

　　The complaint also revealed that for nearly a year since October 2019, Bytedance has been trying to actively communicate with the US government. However, according to the records of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), the agency has repeatedly refused to contact ByteDance about its concerns.

　　ByteDance stated that it acquired musical.ly in 2017. The target company is headquartered in China and has very limited US assets. It is a Chinese company. When CIFIUS considered investigating this acquisition in 2019, Bytedance had already given up most of musical.ly's very limited US assets.

　　In March 2020, CFIUS informed the ByteDance plan to conduct a formal investigation after five months of jurisdictional assessment, and three months later, it launched the investigation on June 15.

　　After initially learning of CFIUS's investigation intentions, ByteDance began to provide a large number of documents and information for CFIUS issues, including detailed documents that can explain that TikTok US user data security is guaranteed. While actively providing evidence documents, TikTok is also actively proposing solutions to reduce national security concerns.

　　However, the final investigation results of CFIUS completely ignored the actual evidence and positive solutions provided by TikTok. The statement is: Bytedance's acquisition of musical.ly "there is a national security risk, and there is no mitigation measure to solve these risks."

　　ByteDance stated that, in fact, CFIUS has not been able to provide clear evidence to support the above conclusion, "based on outdated news" and "no mention of mitigation measures that actually exist." At the same time, CFIUS terminated all formal communications with ByteDance before the legal review period ended.

Once TikTok's US business is shut down, a class action may be triggered

　　Before being blocked by the Presidential Executive Order, TikTok achieved explosive growth in the United States and the world. At present, TikTok has covered more than 200 countries, downloaded more than 2 billion times worldwide, and has more than 91 million monthly active users in the United States.

　　The complaint emphasized that TikTok has also adopted the industry's top security measures in platform governance to ensure user privacy and data security. The complaint pointed out that TikTok's security measures are at the same level as US e-commerce companies and financial institutions. In terms of data collection, data storage, data access, data transmission, source code security, etc., there are strict control procedures.

　　On July 29, TikTok announced the establishment of a Transparency Center, enabling internal and external experts to observe TikTok’s content review and check the algorithm source code in real time. "This kind of transparent behavior is unmatched by other major social platforms, and makes TikTok ahead of the industry." The complaint pointed out.

　　However, it is rare for companies to appeal to the US government against IEEPA, and there is little chance of success.

　　In addition, a class action lawsuit by TikTok's American employees against Trump's executive order is also underway, on the grounds that the presidential order will infringe citizens' basic rights to labor compensation.

　　Analysis shows that once TikTok's US business is shut down, users' interests will be harmed and a class action may also be initiated.

　　It is reported that ByteDance has made the worst plan to shut down TikTok's US business. Because the shutdown involves more than 1,500 TikTok employees and thousands of partners in the United States, the company is intensively assessing the damage to the legitimate rights and interests of employees, users, and partners after the shutdown, and simultaneously preparing protection plans. (Finish)