WASHINGTON, March 5 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi were sued Thursday over the U.S. government’s approval of a deal by TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to establish a majority American-owned joint venture, saying the approval was illegal and did not meet the requirements of a 2024 law.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of two retail U.S. investors in rival social media firms. It aims to require a renegotiation of the deal “that doesn’t put administration allies in a position to censor political content on one of the world’s most popular media platforms.”
The lawsuit does not seek to force a ban on TikTok, which is used by 200 million Americans.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
