World News | US Appeals Court Rejects TikTok’s Request to Delay Ban | LatestLY
Washington, DC – A federal appeals court has declined TikTok’s request to delay a new law that mandates a ban on the popular video app starting next month unless its Chinese parent company divests its stake. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an order stating that the petitioners’ argument based on First Amendment claims was insufficient to temporarily block the Act. The court had previously determined that the Act meets the stringent requirements of the First Amendment under strict scrutiny.
TikTok is expected to seek intervention from the Supreme Court, though it remains uncertain whether the court will agree to hear the case or issue a ruling before the law is enacted on January 19.
The legislation, passed by Congress in April as an attachment to a foreign aid package, grants TikTok nine months to sever its relationship with its parent company, ByteDance. Failing to do so could result in the removal of the app from US app stores and the loss of web-hosting services.
President Joe Biden promptly signed the bill into law, which incorporates the option for a one-time 90-day delay if a sale is in progress during that timeframe. However, the Chinese government has declared it would prevent the sale of TikTok’s algorithm, responsible for tailoring content for users, raising additional concerns.
TikTok and ByteDance’s legal team argues that any new purchaser would need to recreate the algorithm from scratch, a situation they consider impractical.
On December 6, TikTok encountered a setback when the appeals court dismissed its attempt to overturn the law, affirming that national security concerns regarding potential espionage by the Chinese government through the app were both convincing and well-supported.
Following this ruling, TikTok and ByteDance sought a temporary block on the law while they awaited a Supreme Court review. Their filing argued that a pause would provide the incoming Trump administration with an opportunity to engage in the matter, referencing the prior administration’s efforts to ban TikTok. During his first term, former President Donald Trump made moves to enforce a ban but later expressed a desire to “save” the app.
The filing posited that allowing the law to go into effect, even briefly, would significantly harm the platform. TikTok claimed that it might lose approximately one-third of its US daily users within a month of a shutdown, noting that around 170 million Americans currently utilize the app.
The Justice Department dismissed claims of potential “immediate harm” to TikTok if the law was not paused and pointed out that Americans who have downloaded the app could continue using it post-January 19, albeit without any updates.
On the same day, leaders of the House China Committee sent letters to both Google and Apple, urging them to prepare for the removal of TikTok from their app stores by the January 19 deadline. Representatives John Moolenaar, the committee’s Republican chair, and Raja Krishnamoorthi, the panel’s top Democrat, also reached out to TikTok, encouraging the company to proceed with a sale of the app.
They emphasized, “Congress has taken strong action to safeguard U.S. national security and protect American TikTok users from the Chinese Communist Party. We strongly urge TikTok to proceed with a qualified divestiture.”
