WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court on Friday rejected TikTok’s bid to delay a law banning the popular short-form video app from taking effect next month if its Chinese parent company doesn’t sell its shares.
“Appellants rely on their First Amendment claims to justify the Act’s preliminary injunction. Regarding these claims, this court has already found them under rigorous scrutiny. “We unanimously conclude that the Act meets the requirements of the First Amendment,” the U.S. court’s order states. said the appeal to the District of Columbia Circuit Court.
TikTok plans to ask the Supreme Court for an opinion, but it is unclear whether the Supreme Court will agree to hear the case or rule before the law takes effect on January 19th.
The law, passed by Congress in April as part of a foreign aid package, gives TikTok nine months to sever ties with parent company ByteDance or immediately lose access to President Biden’s app store and web hosting services. I was given a reprieve. signed the bill into lawThis includes the possibility of a one-time 90-day delay granted by the President if the sale is in progress by then.
But the Chinese government has vowed to block the potential sale of TikTok’s algorithm, which recommends content tailored to each user. Lawyers for TikTok and ByteDance say a new buyer would have to rebuild the algorithms that run the apps, which is not possible.
TikTok suffered another setback in an appeals court on December 6th. rejected the attempt to overturn the lawthe U.S. government’s national security concerns about the ability of the Chinese government to use the app to spy on and covertly influence American citizens are “compelling” and “well-founded.” ” concluded.
TikTok and ByteDance later asked the Court of Appeals to temporarily block the law from taking effect pending review by the Supreme Court. The companies said in a Dec. 9 court filing that the moratorium would also give the Trump administration time to act. President-elect Donald Trump spearheaded an effort to ban TikTok during his first term, but has since said he would “save” the app.
The application argued that allowing this law to take effect even for a short period of time would be detrimental to platforms. TikTok estimated it could lose a third of its daily users in the U.S. within a month of the shutdown. Approximately 170 million people use TikTok in the United States.
But the Justice Department pushed back, saying TikTok would face “immediate harm” if the law was not suspended. In its response, it noted that Americans who have already downloaded the app will still be able to use it after January 19, but will no longer receive updates.
On Friday, House China Committee leaders sent a letter to Google and Apple asking them to be ready to remove TikTok from their app stores by January 19th.
The committee’s Republican chairman, Rep. John Moolener of Michigan, and the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, also sent a letter to TikTok urging it to sell the app.
“Congress took decisive action to protect U.S. national security and protect TikTok’s U.S. users from the Chinese Communist Party. We call on TikTok to make a qualified sale immediately,” they wrote. .
