Court denies TikTok’s request to delay potential ban in US

A federal appeals court has a mid-January deadline in place requiring TikTok to be sold or face a ban in the United States.

The court rejected a request made by the company to halt enforcement until the Supreme Court reviews its challenge of the statute.

Attorneys for TikTok and its China-based parent company ByteDance are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court.

It is unclear if the nation’s highest court will take up the case, although some legal experts have said they expect the justices to weigh in due to the types of novel questions it raises about social media, national security and the First Amendment.

TikTok is also looking for a potential lifeline from President-elect Donald Trump, who promised to “save” the short-form video platform during the presidential campaign.

Attorneys for TikTok and ByteDance had requested the injunction after a panel of three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sided with the US government and rejected their challenge to the law.

The statute, which was signed by President Joe Biden earlier this year, requires ByteDance to sell TikTok to an approved buyer due to national security concerns or face a ban in the US.

The US has said it sees TikTok as a national security risk because ByteDance could be coerced by Chinese authorities to hand over US user data or manipulate content on the platform for Beijing’s interests.

TikTok has denied those claims and has argued the government’s case rests on hypothetical future risks instead of proven facts.

In the request filed last week, attorneys for TikTok and ByteDance had asked for a “modest delay” in enforcement of the law so that the Supreme Court could review the case and the incoming Trump administration could “determine its position” on the matter.

If the law is not overturned, the two companies have said the popular app will shut down by January 19, a day before Mr Trump takes office again. More than 170 million American users would be affected, the companies have said.

The Justice Department had opposed TikTok’s request for a pause, saying in a court filing last week that the parties had already proposed a schedule that was “designed for the precise purpose” of allowing Supreme Court review of the law before it took effect.

The appeals court issued its December 6 ruling on the matter in line with that schedule, the Justice Department filing said.