TikTok faces a critical decision as it must quickly petition the U.S. Supreme Court to block or overturn a law requiring its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest the short-video app by January 19.
This urgency follows the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia’s rejection on Friday of TikTok and ByteDance’s request for more time.
On Monday, TikTok and ByteDance filed an emergency motion with the appeals court, seeking additional time to argue their case before the Supreme Court. The companies warned that if the law takes effect, it will effectively shut down TikTok, which serves more than 170 million monthly users in the United States.
The appeals court unanimously denied the bid, stating that TikTok and ByteDance failed to cite a precedent where a court enjoined a law enacted by Congress while Supreme Court review was pending. TikTok has announced plans to take its case to the Supreme Court, emphasizing the court’s history of defending Americans’ free speech rights.
Under the law, TikTok will face a ban unless ByteDance divests by January 19. The legislation grants the U.S. government extensive authority to ban foreign-owned apps perceived as threats to national security, citing concerns over data collection. The Justice Department argues that ByteDance’s control of TikTok poses an ongoing national security risk.
TikTok disputes these claims, asserting that its recommendation algorithms and user data are stored on Oracle-operated cloud servers in the U.S. and that content moderation decisions for U.S. users are made domestically. The company has criticized the Justice Department for mischaracterizing its ties to China.
The ruling places TikTok’s future in the hands of outgoing President Joe Biden, who must decide whether to grant a 90-day extension of the January 19 deadline, and incoming President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on January 20. Trump, who unsuccessfully attempted to ban TikTok during his presidency in 2020, stated before the November election that he would not permit such a ban.
Separately, the chair and top Democrat on a U.S. House committee on China urged Alphabet and Apple to prepare to remove TikTok from their app stores by January 19 if ByteDance does not comply with the divestment requirement.
