A federal appeals court has unanimously upheld a law that may result in TikTok being banned in the U.S. unless the platform separates from its Chinese parent company.
This ruling comes seven months after TikTok sued the federal government, challenging the law. The court rejected TikTok’s argument that the law infringes on the U.S. Constitution’s protections for free speech and individual liberty.
“The First Amendment safeguards free speech in the United States,” the court stated in its opinion. “In this instance, the Government acted to shield that freedom from a foreign adversary and to curb the adversary’s ability to collect data on U.S. citizens.”
TikTok announced its intention to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
“The Supreme Court has a long-standing history of defending Americans’ free speech rights, and we are confident they will uphold those rights in this crucial case,” TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said in a statement to TechCrunch. He also criticized the ban as being based on “inaccurate, flawed, and speculative information,” describing it as outright censorship.
President Biden approved the sell-or-ban law in April, giving TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, until January 19 to divest or face a ban. The move follows years of accusations by the U.S. government, claiming TikTok’s Chinese ties pose a national security risk by potentially exposing sensitive data of American users to Beijing.
Although the ban is set to take effect next month, the app’s removal from the iOS App Store and Google Play Store may not be immediate, as ByteDance plans to escalate the case to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump’s upcoming term could alter the situation. During his campaign, Trump pledged to preserve the app and criticized the ban as potentially advantageous to Meta. Former campaign manager Kellyanne Conway echoed this sentiment, highlighting TikTok’s widespread popularity in the U.S. and suggesting alternative ways to hold China accountable.
Interestingly, while Trump initiated efforts to ban TikTok during his first term, his 2024 campaign took a different stance, focusing on the potential market impact of such a ban.
ByteDance has firmly stated it will not sell its U.S. operations. Even if it considered a sale, the Chinese government would likely block the move, as it would require approval to transfer TikTok’s algorithms. Additionally, TikTok argued in its lawsuit that transferring the app’s infrastructure is technologically unfeasible due to the complexity of its codebase.
TikTok has faced bans in several other countries, including India, Nepal, Somalia, and Afghanistan.
This article has been updated to include TikTok’s statement.