An appeals court rejected appeals by TikTok and a group of creators against a law forcing the Chinese company to sell the platform. As a result, the application could be withdrawn from the United States on January 19, 2025, the day before the inauguration of President Donald Trump, who has long opposed the ban.
In a decision released Friday, three Washington District Court judges unanimously dismissed complaints by TikTok, right-wing influencers and a group of content creators on the platform. Lawyers representing these groups claimed that the US Congress passed this April. The law — effectively banning TikTok from operating in the U.S. if it remains controlled by Chinese company ByteDance — violates free speech.
The judges categorically rejected this argument, agreeing with the lawyers of the Ministry of Justice.
They have argued that China's control over the popular platform threatens US national security because of TikTok's ability to collect and send user data to China and the potential ability of Chinese authorities to edit content.
The court found that the threat is real because of the current law in China, the blurring of the lines between the authorities and private companies, as well as the use of cyber campaigns by the PRC to pursue its interests and undermine democracy in other countries.
“In this case, the government of a foreign country threatens to distort free speech in an important means of communication. Using a hybrid business strategy, the PRC has positioned itself to manipulate public discourse on TikTok for its own purposes. (… . ) this is contrary to the principles of freedom of expression,” he said.
Also Read: Sell or Ban. TikTok responds with a lawsuit>>>
TikTok doesn't give up
The decision of the Washington court should not be the last stage of the dispute. TikTok has already announced in a statement that it will appeal to the Supreme Court and warned that the bill to ban its activities in the US would lead to “censorship of the American people”.
Unless the Supreme Court challenges the relevant rules, TikTok will not be available in US mobile app stores from January 19th.
But it is not clear what will happen after Donald Trump comes to power. Already in his first term, the president-elect tried to force ByteDance to sell the program through regulations, but this move was blocked by the courts. During this year's election campaign, Trump strongly opposed the ban on TikTok; It previously received financial backing from the platform's largest minority investor, billionaire Jeff Yass.
The new president is expected to end the ban
According to the Washington Post, Trump will try to stop the ban on TikTok. Alan Rosenstein, a former Justice Department adviser, told the newspaper that the next president could try to convince Congress to repeal the law, instruct the new attorney general not to enforce it, or declare that ByteDance is in compliance with drug sales conditions. has done the platform provided by the law.
Public radio NPR, in turn, notes that the bill allows the president to delay its entry into force for up to 90 days, which could give ByteDance additional time to sell the application to American investors. The following people have expressed interest in buying TikTok: Former Treasury Secretary in Trump's first cabinet, Steve Mnuchin.
However, the new administration includes many anti-China hawks, including politicians who strongly advocate banning TikTok. Among them are the future National Security Adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz, who voted in favor of this law, and the candidate for Secretary of State, Senator Marco Rubio, one of the first critics of TikTok in the Senate. The president-elect has not commented on this yet.
Main image source: Shutterstock
