TikTok Asks Court To Reject Secret Court Filings In Ban Challenge

TikTok and parent ByteDance have asked a US court to reject the Justice Department’s request to file part of its case in secret as the companies seek to overturn a law that would force divestiture of the social media platform or a US ban by 19 January.

The Justice Department is seeking “to file more than 15 percent of its brief and 30 percent of its evidence in secret”, the companies said.

This would leave them “unable to review the government’s evidence” and as such “unable to rebut contentions that are factually incorrect – let alone explain to the court why the government’s arguments and evidence are legally insufficient”.

If the court does not reject the request outright it should appoint a district court judge as a special master “to assess the contents of the classified submissions and the government’s asserted need for secrecy”, the companies said.

Secret filings

The Justice Department is seeking to uphold the April law and last month filed a classified document with the court detailing additional national security concerns about ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok.

The department also filed declarations from the FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and DOJ’s National Security Division.

TikTok and ByteDance want those secret filings to be rejected.

TikTok’s ownership by a Chinese company poses a national security risk as it potentially gives the Chinese government access to large amounts of information on US users and could allow China to covertly manipulate what information Americans see on the app, the Justice Department argues.

The Biden administration asked the US appeals court to reject lawsuits by ByteDance, TikTok and a group of TikTok creators seeking to block the law from taking effect.

Fast-track case

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered oral arguments to begin in September, in line with demands by those bringing the suit, as well as by the US Department of Justice, for the matter to move forward quickly.

The companies and the Justice Department are seeking a ruling by 6 December so that a review can be sought from the Supreme Court if needed.

The group of TikTok content creators filed their lawsuit on 14 May arguing that the app, used by 170 million Americans, “provides them a unique and irreplaceable means to express themselves and form community”.

In their May lawsuit TikTok and ByteDance said the law exceeds the bounds of the Constitution and suppresses speech for millions of citizens.

TikTok has denied the Chinese government has access to data on US users or that it would hand over such data.