The debate over TikTok’s future in the United States has reached a critical turning point. On Monday, the platform and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, filed an emergency injunction to block a nationwide ban scheduled to take effect on January 19. Reports Technology News
This move follows TikTok’s unsuccessful appeal last Friday, when the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a law requiring the app to cut ties with ByteDance or face the ban.
The law, signed by President Biden in April, allows for a 90-day extension of the divest-or-ban deadline. It was introduced amid growing concerns over TikTok’s potential risks to Americans’ data privacy and national security.
TikTok’s appeal argued that the ruling violates First Amendment rights and imposes an unfeasible demand: divesting the platform without its powerful content recommendation algorithm—a component that might require Chinese government approval for any transaction.
However, the appeals court, led by Judge Douglas Ginsburg, ruled unanimously to uphold the statute. The court stated that the law constitutes a legitimate measure to protect national security, affirming its legal basis despite TikTok’s objections.
