--- title: "TikTok Officially Sues the Trump Administration Over Ban in US" description: "TikTok has officially sued the Trump administration for banning transactions with its parent company ByteDance." date: "2020-08-24" modified: "2020-08-24" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/tiktok-sues-trump-administration" categories: - "Future Society" tags: - "donald trump" - "facebook" - "mark zuckerberg" - "the digest" - "tiktok" --- # TikTok Officially Sues the Trump Administration Over Ban in US ![TikTok has officially sued the Trump administration for banning transactions with its parent company ByteDance.]() *\Image: TikTok/Victor Tangermann\* ## TrumpTok TikTok has officially sued the White House over an August 6 executive order that banned transactions with its parent company ByteDance. "We do not take suing the government lightly, however we feel we have no choice but to take action to protect our rights, and the rights of our community and employees," the company wrote in [a statement](). ## Executive Ban President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that China was using the video-sharing platform as a way to spy on US residents, including federal employees. "This data collection threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans' personal and proprietary information," Trump claimed in his [executive order](). Microsoft [even offered]() to buy the app's operations in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand following the order. But TikTok denies that it's collecting any data in bad faith, arguing in the complaint that its activities "have not been found to pose 'an unusual and extraordinary threat.'" ## Enter Zuckerberg The news also comes on the same day that the [*Wall Street Journal* reported]() that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg warned Trump at a White House dinner last October that Chinese tech firms are a direct threat to US businesses — sabotaging an upstart rival in the social media space. Zuckerberg even told Trump that TikTok didn't share Facebook's commitment to freedom of expression, and that it represented a risk to American values and technological supremacy, according to the *WSJ*. **READ MORE:** [TikTok sues Trump administration over US ban]() \[*The Verge*\] **More on TikTok:** *[Microsoft Offers to Buy TikTok Following Trump Crackdown]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()