TikTok content creators, including the owner of a beauty brand, are suing to prevent a law that could potentially ban the video platform in the U.S. The eight plaintiffs contend that the proposed law to ban the Chinese app infringes on users’ First Amendment rights to free speech.
The 33-page complaint mirrors the arguments made by TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, in a separate legal challenge last week, labeling the law “unconstitutionally overbroad” and arguing it would infringe on the free speech rights of 170 million users nationwide. President Biden signed the law last month.
Under the law, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, would have nine months to sell the platform to an approved buyer. If a sale is underway, the company would receive a three-month extension to finalize the deal.
However, in their lawsuit last week, TikTok and ByteDance argued that they would still be forced to shut down by January 19 because continuing operations in the U.S. would not be commercially, technologically, or legally feasible.
The creators’ lawsuit asserts that the law “threatens to deprive them, and the rest of the country, of this unique means of expression and communication,” adding, “It bans an entire medium of communication and all the speech conveyed through it, even though the vast majority of that speech is protected.”
The new lawsuit to contest the ban includes the owners of the skincare company Love & Pebble. Other plaintiffs consist of a rancher, a baker, a book reviewer, an American football coach, a political activist, a rapper, and a comedy creator.
