TikTok lays out past efforts to address US concerns

TikTok, a popular video app facing a new law that could lead it to being banned in the United States, released details Thursday about numerous confidential meetings with top federal officials as it tried to address concerns about the company’s Chinese ownership.

The details of those interactions, TikTok said in a court filing, show that the federal government “ceased substantive engagement” with the company on its efforts in September 2022.

The company said the details support its argument, first made in its lawsuit to block the law in May, that the law is effectively a ban because U.S. officials have been aware that the Chinese government would not allow a forced sale of TikTok or the recommendation algorithm that fuels the app. TikTok said a ban would violate the First Amendment.

The new documents include a 90-page proposal from TikTok about how it planned to address concerns among U.S. national security officials about the app, including worries that the Chinese government could use it to spread propaganda or collect sensitive user data. The Biden administration never blessed TikTok’s proposal, known as Project Texas, despite much back-and-forth about it with the company.

TikTok also released a letter containing the dates and details of several meetings the company held last year with members of a secretive panel known as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS.

The company shared details of a one-page document outlining “key national security concerns” that the Justice Department provided members of Congress in March. The company said it centered on hypotheticals and failed to address TikTok’s security proposal.