TikTok has asked a US court for an emergency injunction to prevent its impending ban.
The social media company lost its attempt to appeal the US law in a ruling on Friday.
The judges ruled in favor of the US government, finding that it was the result of “wide-ranging bipartisan action” by lawmakers.
TikTok said in its emergency filing on Monday that even a temporary ban starting in early 2025 would have “devastating effects” on its operations.
The United States wants the app sold or banned on its territory due to its owner's alleged links to the Chinese state.
TikTok and its parent company Bytedance have repeatedly denied these links.
He said a ban would mean “shutting down one of the country's major speech platforms.”
This would “inflict irreparable harm by silencing the petitioners and the 170 million Americans who use the platform each month,” the filing adds.
The company reiterated its response to Friday's ruling, saying it believes the country's highest judicial authority, the Supreme Court, will review it and uphold its argument.
The app should not be banned in the meantime, he argued.
“The public interest argues for sufficient time for the Supreme Court to conduct an orderly review process and for the new administration to evaluate this exceptionally important case,” TikTok filed with the court. US federal appeal in Washington DC.
The company also said that even a temporary ban in the United States could result in loss of revenue, as well as that of users and creators who create content for the platform.
Shutting down TikTok, even for just one month, would cause it to lose about a third of its daily users in the United States, he said, citing estimates.
Under the law's language, given President Joe Biden's approval in April as part of a broader foreign aid package, TikTok would stop being made available to U.S. citizens unless it not be sold by its parent company ByteDance within nine months.
This deadline would see TikTok effectively banned in the United States from January 19, 2025.
In their request for an emergency injunction filed Monday, TikTok's lawyers argued that the law would “inflict extreme and irreparable harm” on the company – adding that it would do so “on the eve of a presidential inauguration.
President-elect Donald Trump will become the nation's 47th president on January 20.
He previously said he would not seek to enforce the TikTok ban.
Before the November election, Trump said it would benefit Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.
But experts have warned that while his promises may provide a lifeline for the company's future in the United States, they are no guarantee of the steps he will take once in office.
