TikTok and its parent company ByteDance are challenging the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) attempt to secretly file portions of its legal case. 

The case concerns a law that could force ByteDance to divest its U.S. assets by January 19 or face a ban over national security concerns about the Chinese company collecting American users’ data via the app.

In a U.S. appeals court filing on August 5, the social media platform objects to the DOJ’s bid to keep “more than 15% of its brief and 30% of its evidence confidential.”

TikTok argues that this secrecy would prevent them from effectively refuting the government’s contentions.

The company proposes that if the court doesn’t reject the classified submissions outright, it should appoint a district court judge as a special master to evaluate the need for secrecy.

The DOJ’s case, filed last month, asserts that TikTok’s Chinese ownership poses a national security threat due to its access to Americans’ personal data. The U.S. government claims China could covertly manipulate information consumed by TikTok users.

The DOJ filed another lawsuit against TikTok on August 2, accusing the social media giant of unlawfully collecting children’s data on a “massive scale” and impeding parental control over accounts.

TikTok serves 170 million American users and has consistently denied sharing U.S. user data with China or manipulating video results.

This legal battle unfolds as the Biden administration seeks to dismiss lawsuits by TikTok, ByteDance, and TikTok creators aiming to block the potential ban.