TikTok parent company ByteDance filed suit against President Trump and the U.S. Department of Commerce Wednesday, requesting that the court allow the popular social short-form video sharing app to continue operating in U.S. app stores as it works to finalize a merger with an American company.
President Trump previously gave TikTok a deadline of Sept. 27 to finalize and gain government approval of a sale of its U.S. assets to an American-owned company, after voicing concerns that the app, which is owned by Chinese tech firm ByteDance, was misusing user information and jeopardizing national security. If a sale isn’t approved by that date, Trump said, he’ll ban new downloads of the app in U.S.