United States of America: Filed lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (TikTok v US Attorney General)

On 7 May 2024, ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act at the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. TikTok initiated this legal action, arguing that the Act infringes upon the First Amendment's protection of freedom of expression, as well as the foundational principles of fairness and equal treatment under the Bill of Attainder Clause and the Fifth Amendment. The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act makes the distribution, maintenance, updating, or facilitation of a foreign adversary-controlled application in the United States unlawful. The Act defines the term "foreign adversary controlled application" as a website, desktop application, mobile application, or augmented or immersive technology application that is operated directly or indirectly by ByteDance Ltd or TikTok. Specifically, the Act prohibits providing services to distribute, maintain, or update such foreign adversary-controlled application (including any source code) by means of a marketplace or online mobile application store and providing internet hosting services to enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of such foreign adversary-controlled application.