TikTok creators sue U.S., say divestiture law violates First Amendment

Eight TikTok creators sued the U.S. government Tuesday to block the recently passed law that forces ByteDance to divest of the social media app or face a ban, arguing that the law violates the First Amendment, an attorney representing the group said in a post on X.

In the filing shared by attorney Davis Wright Tremaine, the group says that the law, which gives TikTok parent ByteDance nine months to find a buyer for the app, “undermines the nation’s founding principles and free marketplace of ideas.”

The law “promises to shutter a discrete medium of communication that has become part of American life, prohibiting Petitioners from creating and disseminating expressive material with their chosen editor and publisher,” the lawsuit says.

TikTok itself sued the United States last week over the legislation, also invoking a free speech argument in its suit.