An executive order issued by the Donald Trump administration last month that prohibits any US transaction with TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, would not affect paycheques of the employees, the government said in a court filing.
The executive order issued on August 6, apparently to protect “national security”, bars any transaction with ByteDance by any person after 45 days.
Worried that the order would affect their livelihood, the employee sued the Trump administration.
TikTok also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration as it accused the US authorities of stripping the rights of the company without any evidence to justify the extreme action and issuing the order without any due process as guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment while banning the company with no notice or opportunity to be heard.
In a filing in Northern California District Court, the administration said that it has sent assurances to TikTok employee Patrick Ryan, the plaintiff in the lawsuit, that the order would not affect paycheques or other benefits that the employees receive, CNET reported on Monday.
“The Department of Commerce can state that it does not intend to implement or enforce Executive Order 13942 in a manner which would prohibit the payment of wages and/or salaries to Plaintiff or any other employee or contractor of TikTok,” the filing stated.
Doing their jobs would not amount to violating the order, the filing said.
Another executive order, also issued in August, ordered TikTok to divest its US operations by September 20 or face a ban.
Cloud major Oracle on Monday confirmed a deal with ByteDance to serve as the “trusted technology provider.”
TikTok also said that it had submitted a proposal to the US administration to resolve its “security concerns”, Xinhua reported.
“We can confirm that we’ve submitted a proposal to the Treasury Department which we believe would resolve the Administration’s security concerns,” the company said in a statement, adding this step would help to continue the company’s operation in the future.
“This proposal would enable us to continue supporting our community of 100 million people in the U.S. who love TikTok for connection and entertainment, and the hundreds of thousands of small business owners and creators who rely upon TikTok to grow their livelihoods and build meaningful careers,” the statement read.
