President Donald Trump and his Attorney General Pam Bondi may be facing a lawsuit over TikTok. Trump and Bondi were sued on Thursday by retail investors in two social media rivals of TikTok seeking to reverse the U.S. president’s approval of a deal by the company’s Chinese owner ByteDance to form a majority American-owned joint venture.
“Under the announced deal, ByteDance would still control all the essential elements of TikTok. Such a deal would subvert the very purpose of the TikTok Law, as ByteDance could continue to push Chinese propaganda and censor the content it does not like,” the lawsuit stated.
ByteDance said TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, which was finalized in January and is 80% owned by non-Chinese investors, would protect U.S. user data, apps and algorithms through data privacy and cybersecurity measures, it disclosed few details about the divestiture or the financial arrangements.
“The president is obviously violating the law,” Brendan Ballou, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told Reuters.
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The push for a TikTok U.S. asset sale stems from longstanding national security concerns in Washington about the Chinese-owned app’s access to data on American users. In April 2024, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, requiring ByteDance to divest its U.S. operations or face a nationwide ban due to fears the Chinese government could compel access to U.S. personal data.
TikTok challenged the law in court, but a compromise emerged: ByteDance agreed to sell a controlling stake of its U.S. business to American investors, including Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX, forming a joint venture. This deal was finalized in January 2026, allowing the platform to continue operating in the U.S. while shifting majority ownership to non-Chinese entities.
The lawsuit, the first legal challenge to the deal, argues that Trump’s approval last year violated requirements set out in a 2024 divestiture law. Two California residents who hold shares in Alphabet and Meta Platforms sued, backed by a group called the Public Integrity Project.
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This case also reflects a broader trend in which private citizens, investors, and advocacy groups increasingly use litigation to challenge high-profile government decisions, signaling that legal avenues remain a potent mechanism for influencing how policy and corporate action are implemented. It emphasizes that regulatory solutions alone may not resolve concerns about foreign involvement in sensitive technology platforms, as stakeholders will continue to test the robustness of such measures in court.
The controversy illustrates the complexity of balancing global business operations with national security priorities. It raises questions about how far governments should go in supervising corporate structures, what constitutes genuine control, and whether the joint venture actually prevents Chinese influence.
