The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has rejected TikTok’s emergency motion to temporarily halt a law that could see the app banned in the US unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests from it.
This decision intensifies the uncertainty surrounding TikTok’s future in the country as the deadline approaches.
TikTok’s emergency motion, filed earlier in the week, sought to delay the enforcement of a law signed by President Joe Biden.
The law mandates that ByteDance must divest from TikTok by January 19, 2025, or face a nationwide ban.
However, the appeals court dismissed the motion, stating there’s no history of blocking a law after ruling it constitutional.
“The petitioners have not identified any 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.”
The court added that TikTok’s petition had relied on claims of free speech violations, which the judges had already rejected in their original decision last week.
Background to the ‘Divest or Ban’ law
The ‘Divest or Ban’ law emerged as part of escalating concerns over TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance, a Chinese company.
- The US government has long argued that this ownership poses a potential national security risk, citing fears that user data could be accessed by the Chinese government or that the app could be used for propaganda purposes.
- To address these concerns, President Joe Biden signed the law earlier this year, mandating that ByteDance must either divest from TikTok or face a nationwide ban by January 19, 2025.
- The legislation reflects bipartisan efforts to curb perceived threats from foreign-controlled technology platforms, particularly those linked to China.
The law builds on previous actions taken during the Trump administration, which sought to ban TikTok outright but faced legal and procedural roadblocks.
By introducing a clear deadline and divestment requirement, the ‘Divest or Ban’ law aims to resolve these issues while emphasizing the importance of safeguarding US data and security.
TikTok’s next steps
Following the ruling, TikTok announced its intention to escalate the case to the Supreme Court. The company emphasized the potential impact on its 170 million US users if the ban is enforced.
“As we have previously stated, we plan on taking this case to the Supreme Court, which has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech. The voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world will be silenced on January 19th, 2025 unless the TikTok ban is halted,” TikTok said in a statement.
TikTok has strongly opposed the law, describing it as unconstitutional. The company also claims that divesting from ByteDance is technically “unfeasible” within the given timeframe.
Beijing has echoed TikTok’s stance, expressing opposition to any forced sale of the app.
What this means
If TikTok fails to divest, the app could be removed from app stores, and updates or downloads would be prohibited. This would affect millions of US users who rely on the platform for content creation, entertainment, and communication.