A bill that would ban TikTok—unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests its ownership stake—could soon become a U.S. law. TikTok is gearing up a legal fight against the measure if that happens, with plans to challenge it in court on First Amendment grounds. (Variety)
“At the stage that the bill is signed [by President Joe Biden], we will move to the courts for a legal challenge,” Michael Beckerman, TikTok’s head of public policy for the Americas, wrote to staff, describing the legislation as “an unprecedented deal worked out between the Republican Speaker [Rep. Mike Johnson (La.)] and President Biden.” (CNN)
Previous attempts to shutter TikTok in the U.S. have not been successful. Three separate federal district judges have blocked efforts to ban TikTok—two courts during the administration of former President Donald Trump, and one more recently in Montana. (NPR)
Many experts had said that completing a deal in six months would have been nigh impossible, and that one year is still ambitious. For comparison, AOL’s $182 billion merger with Time Warner in 2000 took roughly one year to finalize, while Facebook’s $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014 took seven months to clear regulatory hurdles. (Time)