US Appeals Court Upholds TikTok Ban Law

A US federal appeals court today upheld the law passed earlier this year that requires ByteDance, a China-based company, to sell TikTok or face a ban.

Multiple US agencies and public officials have stated that TikTok poses a national security risk to the United States because, at any time, the Chinese government could compel the company to hand over a huge trove of US citizens’ personal data. Initially, then-president Trump attempted to ban the app via executive order, but when that was found to be unconstitutional, congress worked to pass the ban as a law earlier this year.

In April, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill passed by both houses of congress that requires TikTok divest from its parent company or face a ban.

“Congress has passed my legislation to strengthen our national security and send a message to the world about the power of American leadership: we stand resolutely for democracy and freedom, and against tyranny and oppression,” Biden said at the time.

“This unconstitutional law is a TikTok ban, and we will challenge it in court,” TikTok said in a public response to the law’s passage. “We believe the facts and the law are clearly on our side, and we will ultimately prevail. The fact is, we have invested billions of dollars to keep U.S. data safe and our platform free from outside influence and manipulation. This ban would devastate seven million businesses and silence 170 million Americans. As we continue to challenge this unconstitutional ban, we will continue investing and innovating to ensure TikTok remains a space where Americans of all walks of life can safely come to share their experiences, find joy, and be inspired.”

It presented its case in federal court in September which was described as TikTok’s biggest legal showdown to date. The company and today the ruling came down in favor of the Justice Department and the law was upheld, Reuters reports.

While Donald Trump initially was in favor of banning the social media app, he has since reversed course en route to his election to a second term this year and has vowed to overturn the law once sworn in. It is unclear how he would do this since he would be unable to repeal the ban without the backing of Congress — the same Congress that passed the ban in a rare show of bipartisanship.

Today’s ruling will require TikTok to be divested or face a ban on January 19.

“Consequently, TikTok’s millions of users will need to find alternative media of communication,” the court says with regard to its ruling. It found that China poses a “hybrid commercial threat to U.S. national security, not to the U.S. Government, which engaged with TikTok through a multi-year process in an effort to find an alternative solution” and that the law’s passage “was the culmination of extensive, bipartisan action by the Congress and by successive presidents. It was carefully crafted to deal only with control by a foreign adversary, and it was part of a broader effort to counter a well-substantiated national security threat posed by the PRC (People’s Republic of China).”

It is likely that ByteDance will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.