US appeals court upholds ban on TikTok

A US federal appeals court on Friday, December 6, upheld a law that requires Chinese company ByteDance to sell its popular TikTok app by next year. Otherwise, the social network will be banned in the US. The decision can still be appealed to the US Supreme Court.

This is reported by The Wall Street Journal. The publication notes that a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia District said that Congress has the right to take action against TikTok to protect US interests.

Reuters writes that the appeals court said that the law was carefully designed to deal only with control from China. This was part of an effort to counteract the national security threat posed by China.

“This decision is a complete victory for the Department of Justice and opponents of the Chinese-owned app, and a devastating blow to ByteDance. The decision now raises the possibility of an unprecedented ban in just six weeks (TikTok must be sold by January 19, 2025 – ed.) of the social media app used by 170 million Americans,” the publication writes.

The Justice Department says that Chinese-owned TikTok poses a serious national security threat due to its access to a large amount of Americans' personal data. The agency claims that China can secretly manipulate the information Americans receive through the social network. TikTok and ByteDance argue that the law is unconstitutional and violates Americans' rights to free speech.

US Fight Against TikTok

On April 20, 2024, the US House of Representatives approved a bill that would allow the social network TikTok to be banned. On April 24, this law was supported by the Senate, and US President Joseph Biden signed it on the same day. The ruling on the document states that TikTok itself must be sold within nine months to any non-Chinese company. Banning TikTok would mean the app would no longer receive updates, making it harder to use as operating systems evolve and making it obsolete over time. On May 7, TikTok, a social network owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, filed a lawsuit in a US court. It sought to challenge a law passed by Congress and signed by US President Joseph Biden. Failure to comply with this law could result in a nationwide ban on the social network in the US. TikTok denies that the Chinese government has any control over the app.