A federal appeals court has upheld a law requiring TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell its US operations to an American owner by January 2025 or face a ban. The ruling, delivered unanimously by a three-judge panel on Friday, reinforces legislation signed by President Joe Biden in April.
In the court’s majority opinion, the judges acknowledged the sweeping impact of the decision, stating, “We recognize that this decision has significant implications for TikTok and its users.” However, they noted that failure to divest would render TikTok effectively “unavailable in the United States, at least for a time.”
“Consequently, TikTok’s millions of users will need to find alternative media of communication,” the opinion stated.
Following the decision, TikTok is prepared to take the case to the Supreme Court. The platform released a statement expressing hope that the Supreme Court will rule against the ban, citing free speech rights.
“The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” TikTok said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people. The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025.”
The court’s opinion also indicated the possibility of a 90-day extension to the deadline “based upon progress” that the company is moving toward divestiture, according to NBC News.
President-elect Donald Trump, who will take office a day after the current deadline, previously stated during his campaign that he would “save TikTok” from being banned. However, bipartisan support in Congress remains strong for restricting the platform, citing concerns about national security due to ByteDance’s ties to the Chinese government.
This piece first appeared at TPUSA.
