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TikTok, the popular video app facing a new law that could lead to it being banned in the United States, released details on Thursday of multiple secret meetings with senior federal officials in an effort to allay concerns about its Chinese ownership.
TikTok said in a court filing that details of those interactions indicate the federal government “ceased substantive engagement with the company regarding its work” in September 2022.
The company said the details bolstered arguments it first made in its May lawsuit to block the law: that it was effectively a ban because U.S. officials had realized the Chinese government would not allow a forced sale of TikTok or the recommendation algorithms that underpin the app. TikTok said a ban would violate the First Amendment.
The new documents include a 90-page proposal from TikTok that outlines how the company plans to address concerns about the app among U.S. national security officials, including worries that the Chinese government could use it for propaganda or to collect sensitive user data. The Biden administration never approved the proposal, known as the “Texas Plan,” despite multiple engagements with TikTok on the matter.
TikTok also released a letter containing dates and details of several meetings the company held last year with members of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS).
The company shared details of a one-page document outlining “critical national security issues” the Justice Department provided to lawmakers in March. The company said the document was largely hypothetical and failed to address TikTok’s security proposals.
The new law is sign President Biden in April Rapid and bipartisan approval Congressional support. The bill requires TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to sell the app to a government-approved non-Chinese buyer by mid-January. Failure to do so could result in the app being banned in the United States.
The law could upend a company that claims to have 170 million users in the U.S. and touches nearly every country. every aspect American life.
TikTok sued the Indian government in May, setting off a legal battle that many legal experts say could end up in the Supreme Court. The Indian government is expected to file materials supporting the case by July 26. Oral arguments in the case are scheduled for September 16.
The U.S. government has discussed serious national security issues related to TikTok behind closed doors, including in classified briefings with members of Congress.
The company argued that it had made specific commitments to the U.S. government to address its concerns, including third-party monitoring of TikTok content and a “shutdown option” if the company violated the terms of its security agreement.
The document sheds new light on TikTok’s negotiations with CFIUS, a federal agency that reviews investments in U.S. companies by foreign entities. Those interactions have been largely shrouded in secrecy for the past two years.
Before the law was passed, TikTok In a state of uncertainty The committee is weighing whether to approve its safety plan.
The documents show that TikTok’s lawyers and the Biden administration went back and forth on the feasibility of a sale and whether the company could move its underlying code out of China starting at least in March 2023. A few months later, the company said it made a presentation at the Treasury Department stating that “the positions of the U.S. government and the Chinese government are completely incompatible, which puts the company in a dilemma.”
TikTok’s last in-person meeting with CFIUS was in September, according to the filing. That meeting included “another technical discussion” about the challenges of moving underlying code from China. The company said it has heard little from the government since then.
TikTok’s lawyers wrote to a Justice Department official after the new law was introduced in March, saying the company was concerned that “CFIUS has been compromised by political incitement in this matter.”
The Justice Department said in a statement it looked forward to defending the bill, which it said “addresses significant national security concerns in a manner consistent with the First Amendment and other constitutional limitations.”
“The Department of Justice, along with others in the BroadCast Unitedligence community and Congress, has long warned of the threat that repressive nations could use technology — like the apps and software that run on our phones — against us,” the statement said. “That threat is exacerbated when these repressive nations demand that companies under their control secretly hand over sensitive data to their governments.”
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