PRESIDENT Donald Trump is set to be the subject of court action, possibly as early as tomorrow, by the Chinese owners of the TikTok app which he has ordered to be banned in the US.
It’s unlikely the President will end up in court himself, but the ByteDance-owned Chinese app company may file a lawsuit against the US Government very soon – some sources say tomorrow.
Trump signed an executive order banning TikTok, a video-sharing app that is popular with the smartphone generation. Fears had been expressed that the app would allow ByteDance to gather personal information on American citizens which could be passed to the Chinese Government, even though the company has vehemently denied such a possibility.
The highly respected National Public Radio website NPR reported that “the lawsuit will argue that President Trump's far-reaching action is unconstitutional because it failed to give the company a chance to respond. It also alleges that the administration's national security justification for the order is baseless, according to the source.”
Other sources in the US say this high-profile action by the President taken as part of his anti-China strategy could cost American taxpayers many millions in damages.
NPR quoted one source as saying: "It's based on pure speculation and conjecture. The order has no findings of fact, just reiterates rhetoric about China that has been kicking around."
A White House spokesman would not comment ahead of the lawsuit but said: "The Administration is committed to protecting the American people from all cyber related threats to critical infrastructure, public health and safety, and our economic and national security
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