The US department of justice (DOJ) has asked an appeals court to reject legal challenges to a law requiring China-based ByteDance to divest TikTok's US assets by 19 January or face a ban.
TikTok, its parent company ByteDance and a group of TikTok creators have filed suits to block the law that could ban the app used by 170 million Americans.
The DOJ will detail wide-ranging national security concerns about ByteDance's ownership of TikTok.
The government is also filing a classified document with the court that will detail additional security concerns about ByteDance's ownership of TikTok as well as declarations from the FBI, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Justice Department's National Security Division, a senior official said.
The DOJ will argue TikTok under Chinese ownership poses a serious national security threat to Americans because of its access to vast personal data of Americans and will argue China can covertly manipulate information that Americans consume via TikTok, an official said.
Signed by US President Joe Biden on 24 April, the law gives ByteDance until 19 January to sell TikTok or face a ban.
The White House says it wants to see Chinese-based ownership ended on national security grounds, but not a ban on TikTok.
The department is rejecting all of the arguments raised by TikTok, including that the law violates the First Amendment free speech rights of Americans that use the short video app, saying the law is aimed at addressing national security concerns, not speech and is aimed at China's ability to exploit TikTok to access Americans sensitive personal information, a senior DOJ official said.
The government will tell the court that TikTok's efforts to protect US user data are insufficient.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will hold oral arguments on the legal challenge on 16 September, putting the fate of TikTok in the middle of the final weeks of the 2024 presidential election.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has joined TikTok and told an interviewer in June he would never support a TikTok ban. US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running for president, joined TikTok this week.
The law prohibits app stores like Apple and Alphabet's Google from offering TikTok and bars internet hosting services from supporting TikTok unless it is divested by ByteDance.
Driven by worries among US politicians that China could access data on Americans or spy on them with the app, the measure was passed overwhelmingly in the US Congress just weeks after being introduced.
