TikTok sues Donald Trump over threats to ban app in the US

Washington : TikTok on Monday sued the US President Donald Trump over threats to ban the application in the country, calling it a pretext to fuel anti-China rhetoric as he seeks reelection.

TikTok and its parent company Bytedance rejected claims made by White House that the app is a major national security threat; they claimed that the company has taken extraordinary steps to safeguard the user data of US people.

"We do not take suing the government lightly," TikTok said in a blog post. "But with the Executive Order threatening to bring a ban on our U.S. operations ... we simply have no choice."

TikTok and ByteDance are seeking a permanent injunction to block Trump from enforcing his August 6 order. 

The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court names Trump, the US Department of Commerce and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as defendants.

On August 14, Donald Trump had issued a fresh order asking TikTok to divest their US operations and any data TikTok had gathered in the United States. 

Reuters had reported last week that TikTok had been preparing a legal challenge.

TikTok said the Trump administration violated its constitutional right to due process by banning the company without notice.