TikTok's woes with the U.S. government and courts continue.
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Chinese company Bytedance has one last way to avoid selling its social media service TikTok after losing a court appeal to invalidate a law The US, which requires the service to be sold by January 19, 2025.
In its decision, the US Court of Appeals noted that the law requiring the sale of TikTok was a bipartisan effort to counter a “credible national security threat posed by the PRC (People’s Republic of China).” The US government believes that Bytedance’s ownership of TikTok gives it — and by extension, the Chinese government — access to vast amounts of personal data collected from users.
TikTok is likely to appeal to the Supreme Court, which could result in an additional 90-day stay of the law if the court agrees to hear the case and President Biden grants the stay. If the appeal is denied, TikTok could face a ban or forced sale in the U.S. as early as January, despite 170 million Americans using the social media service.
A Reflection of Current Political Tensions
TikTok is considered a leading source of misinformation and disinformation, along with other social media companies like Facebook's Meta and X.com, formerly Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk. Officials in China have called the law “an egregious act of commercial plunder.”
Tensions between China and the US have been steadily rising over the Biden administration’s new restrictions on China’s chip industry. China has responded by banning the export of certain rare earth elements to the US.
TikTok CEO Shou Tzu Chu found allies in the American Civil Liberties Union, which said in a statement that the TikTok ban “egregiously violates the First Amendment rights of the millions of Americans who use this app to express themselves and connect with people around the world.” Chu vowed that TikTok “will continue to fight to protect free speech on our platform.”
However, an appeals court ruled that China’s influence over TikTok’s parent company ByteDance makes it more likely that China can manipulate public discourse. If the Supreme Court declines to hear the case, ByteDance has until January 19, the day before President-elect Trump is sworn in for a second term, to sell the service.
During his previous term, Trump advocated forcing ByteDance to sell TikTok, but he recently said he now opposes the deal. Trump also tried to ban Tencent-owned WeChat in 2020, but legal efforts have stymied his administration's efforts to enforce the order.
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