US Appeals Court Rejects TikTok’s Bid to Delay Potential Ban, Pushing ByteDance to Seek Supreme Court Intervention

 

A U.S. appeals court on Friday denied TikTok’s urgent request to temporarily block a law mandating its parent company, ByteDance, to divest ownership of the app by January 19, 2024, or face a nationwide ban.

The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia forces TikTok to escalate its legal battle to the Supreme Court to prevent the law from taking effect. ByteDance and TikTok had argued in their emergency motion earlier this week that the law threatens to "shut down one of the nation’s most popular speech platforms" for its over 170 million monthly U.S. users.

In its ruling, the court dismissed TikTok's request for a temporary injunction, stating, “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.”

TikTok has not yet issued a public response to the court’s decision.

The controversial law requires ByteDance to divest TikTok by January 19 or face a ban on the app’s operations in the U.S. It also grants the federal government extensive powers to prohibit other foreign-owned apps deemed to pose national security risks.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) contends that TikTok’s Chinese ownership presents ongoing threats to national security, citing concerns over the potential misuse of American user data.

TikTok, however, disputes these claims, emphasizing that its recommendation engine and user data are hosted on U.S.-based Oracle cloud servers, with moderation decisions affecting American users made domestically.

If the Supreme Court does not intervene, TikTok’s future hinges on President Joe Biden’s decision to grant a 90-day extension to the divestiture deadline. After Biden’s term ends on January 20, the matter would fall to President-elect Donald Trump, who previously sought to ban TikTok during his first administration in 2020.

Trump has indicated he would oppose any ban on TikTok, a reversal of his earlier stance. This political uncertainty adds another layer of complexity to the app’s legal and operational challenges.

With the deadline looming, TikTok must act quickly to secure Supreme Court intervention or seek political relief. The outcome could set a significant precedent for foreign-owned tech companies operating in the U.S. amid growing scrutiny over data security and national sovereignty.

For now, TikTok’s future remains uncertain, as millions of its U.S. users await clarity on the app’s fate.