Court denies TikTok bid to halt looming US ban deadline
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The news: A US federal appeals court has rejected TikTok’s request to delay enforcement of a law that requires its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell TikTok by 19 January or face a ban in the country.
The numbers: If the law is not overturned, the companies have said TikTok will have to shut down in the US, impacting over 170 million US users.
The context: The companies had filed the request to find time to appeal to the Supreme Court, citing First Amendment issues and arguing the law is based on hypothetical risks rather than proven threats. The Justice Department claims ByteDance's ownership poses ongoing national security risks.
On Friday, the court rejected their bid to halt the law as they had failed to present a previous case "in which a court, after rejecting a constitutional challenge to an Act of Congress, has enjoined the Act from going into effect while review is sought in the Supreme Court," Reuters reported citing the order.
The ruling leaves TikTok’s fate uncertain, with ByteDance seeking potential intervention from the incoming Trump administration, as President-elect Trump previously promised to “save” the app.
The companies are also likely to take their case to the Supreme Court. While it remains uncertain whether the court will hear the case, some legal experts anticipate it may weigh in, given the unique issues it presents regarding social media, national security and First Amendment rights.
The law, signed earlier this year, also grants the US government broad powers to ban other foreign-owned apps.
The sources: The Associated Press, Reuters
