Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird joined a 21-state brief, urging a federal court to uphold Congress’s law that protects American privacy rights by requiring TikTok to cut ties with the Chinese Communist Party or face a national ban.
Earlier this year, Congress passed a bipartisan law banning TikTok unless ByteDance, TikTok’s Chinese-owned parent company, sells its stake in the platform. ByteDance and TikTok sued the U.S. federal government in response. The states are calling on the Court to deny TikTok’s lawsuit and defend Congress’s power to act in matters of national security and foreign affairs.
“Make no mistake, TikTok is a gateway for the Chinese Communist Party to spy on Americans’ lives,” said Attorney General Bird. “We cannot sit back as foreign governments exploit our personal information and manipulate our kids with dangerous videos. I am glad that Congress is taking this national security threat seriously. If TikTok does not change course and respect Americans’ privacy rights, Congress has the power to put a stop to it.”
TikTok threatens both national security and consumer privacy by feeding user data directly to the Chinese Communist Party, a longstanding adversary of the United States. The app also endangers kids by recommending them inappropriate videos. In January, Attorney General Bird sued TikTok for lying to parents about the frequency and severity of harmful videos their kids have access to on the social-media app.
TikTok is also a tool for corporate and international espionage, which enables the Chinese Communist Party to monitor the real-time activities of public officials, journalists, and others believed to be adversarial to its interests. Allowing TikTok to operate in the United States, without cutting ties to the Chinese Communist Party, puts every American user at risk.
The States make the case that the Court should deny TikTok’s lawsuit. Congress has the legal authority to pass laws protecting American privacy rights and putting a stop to threats against national security.
Iowa joined the Montana and Virginia-led amicus brief. They were joined by Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah.
Original source can be found here.