A federal appeals court has recently rejected TikTok’s request to delay a law requiring the app’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its stake by January 19, or face a ban in the United States.
The ruling intensifies pressure on the widely popular app, used by approximately 170 million Americans, amid concerns over national security.
“The petitioners base their argument on First Amendment claims to justify temporarily blocking the Act. However, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has already unanimously determined that the Act meets the First Amendment’s requirements under strict scrutiny.”
The law, passed in April as part of a foreign aid package and signed swiftly by President Joe Biden, gives TikTok nine months to sever ties with ByteDance. Failure to do so would result in the app’s removal from app stores and loss of web-hosting services. A potential 90-day delay can be granted if a sale process is underway, but China has vowed to block the sale of TikTok’s algorithm, which drives personalized content recommendations. ByteDance has argued that recreating the algorithm for a new buyer would be impractical.
TikTok, facing mounting legal and legislative hurdles, is expected to seek intervention from the Supreme Court, though it remains unclear if the court will agree to hear the case or issue a ruling before the January 19 deadline.
National Security Concerns and Court Rulings
The appeals court previously ruled on December 6 that the US government’s national security concerns over potential Chinese espionage and influence through TikTok were “convincing” and “well-supported.” The ruling rejected TikTok’s argument to overturn the law. Following this, TikTok and ByteDance requested the appeals court to temporarily block the law while awaiting Supreme Court review.
In their December 9 filing, the companies warned that even brief enforcement of the ban would cause significant harm to the platform, projecting a loss of one-third of their US daily users within a month.
However, the Justice Department refuted claims of “immediate harm,” arguing that Americans who already downloaded TikTok could continue using the app after January 19, albeit without updates.
Congressional Action and Pressure on Tech Giants
On Friday, leaders of the bipartisan House China Committee, including Republican Representative John Moolenaar and Democrat Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, urged Google and Apple to prepare for TikTok’s removal from their app stores by January 19. In a separate letter addressed to TikTok, the lawmakers pressed the company to divest its US operations.
“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,” the letter read.
As TikTok braces for the looming deadline, the company faces an uncertain future, with ByteDance contending with significant technical and political obstacles to comply with the law. The Supreme Court’s potential involvement could determine whether the app remains accessible to millions of American users.
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