TikTok faces US ban after appeals court refuses to block law
The ruling could be appealed to the Supreme Court or full appeals court panel.
A TikTok ban across the US remains on track after the app lost a US federal court appeal on Friday. The popular short video site will face a ban unless its Chinese parent company — ByteDance — sells the platform by January 19.
The ruling now increases the possibility of an unprecedented ban in just six weeks on a social media app used by 170 million Americans. The verdict can however be appealed to the Supreme Court or in front of a full appeals court panel.
Meanwhile incoming President Donald Trump — who unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok during his first term in 2020 — had earlier indicated that he would not allow the ban to take place. The new restrictions will settle into place a day before his inauguration and source-based reports suggest that Trump will make efforts to reverse the ban after taking office.
American officials have highlighted links between the TikTok management and the Chinese government — which could compel the company to share the data of its US users. The Justice Department also agreed that the platform posed a serious national security threat because of its access to the extensive personal data of Americans. It also asserted that China could covertly manipulate information that Americans consume via TikTok.
The social media platform however accused American lawmakers of advancing "speculative" concerns it its lawsuit. Both TikTok and ByteDance argue that the the law is unconstitutional and violates Americans' free speech rights. They also dubbed it “a radical departure from this country's tradition of championing an open Internet”.
The law signed by President Joe Biden in April also prohibits app stores like Apple and Alphabet's Google from offering TikTok and bars internet hosting services from supporting TikTok unless ByteDance divests TikTok by the deadline. The POTUS can grant a one-time extension of up to 90 days — but only if the Chinese company has made significant progress in finding a buyer.
(With inputs from agencies)
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First Published:6 Dec 2024, 09:32 PM IST
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