US court rejects TikTok’s plea to delay impending ban

TikTok is racing against time to appeal to the US Supreme Court, following a US appeals court ruling that rejected its request for more time to challenge a law requiring its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the app by January 19.

Earlier this week, TikTok and ByteDance filed an emergency motion with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, requesting additional time to present their case to the Supreme Court. Without legal intervention, the companies warned, the law would result in the app’s shutdown. “TikTok — one of the nation’s most popular speech platforms — risks being shut down for its more than 170 million domestic monthly users,” they cautioned in court documents, as reported by Reuters.

However, the appeals court rejected their plea, stating TikTok and ByteDance failed to cite precedent “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,” according to the unanimous decision cited by Reuters.

A TikTok spokesperson affirmed the company’s commitment to pursuing the case, saying, “We plan to take this matter to the Supreme Court, which has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech.”

Under the law, ByteDance must divest TikTok by 19 January, or the app will face a U.S. ban. The legislation also empowers the government to prohibit other foreign-owned apps over concerns about American data security.

The US Justice Department argues that “continued Chinese control of the TikTok application poses a continuing threat to national security.” TikTok counters that its data systems are based in the US and operated by Oracle, with content moderation overseen domestically.

The Supreme Court decision could put TikTok’s future in the hands of Democratic President Joe Biden, who could issue a 90-day extension, or Republican President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on 20 January. Trump, who attempted to ban TikTok in 2020, has previously stated he opposes banning the app.

Separately, the House Committee on China’s Democratic chair urged Google and Apple to prepare to remove TikTok from US app stores by the deadline. Reuters