A federal appeals court is backing legislation that would ban TikTok in the United States if the social media app’s Chinese parent company does not sell the platform by January.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday voted to deny review of three petitions for relief from TikTok and ByteDance, the platform’s parent company. The court ruled that the petitions, which sought to overturn the passed legislation, were unconstitutional.
In the spring, Congress passed the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act and President Joe Biden quickly signed the bill, which will go into effect on January 19, 2025. According to the law, if TikTok is still controlled by ByteDance, it will become illegal. for distribution in the United States. It is illegal to download the app from the Apple App Store or Google Play, and internet service providers will be required to make the app inaccessible in US internet browsers.
Users who have TikTok on their devices would still be able to use the app under the law, but banning TikTok from app stores would ban future software updates.
However, if ByteDance sells the platform to another company before January 19, the app will remain available in the United States.
What is TikTok?
TikTok is a social media application known for its short mobile videos. Users can create, post and interact with videos in the app. TikTok is popular for its scrolling algorithm and allows users to post videos ranging from three seconds to ten minutes. Users can add various filters, backgrounds, music and stickers to their videos.
Why did the government draft and pass the TikTok law?
TikTok has been a national security concern among government officials for years. Officials are concerned that Beijing-based ByteDance is accessing U.S. data and sharing it with Chinese government surveillance.
In 2019, former President and now President-elect Donald Trump declared a national emergency after discovering that “foreign adversaries,” in this case ByteDance, were “exploiting vulnerabilities in information and communications technology and services,” according to the federal court’s opinion profession. As part of his response, Trump banned all transactions with the company.
In 2021, Biden issued a new executive order regarding ByteDance, saying the company “continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” according to the federal appeals court opinion. In 2022, Biden signed a bill banning the use of TikTok on government devices.
TikTok is fighting back
Amid the national security allegations, TikTok and ByteDance have denied the claims. During arguments against the ban earlier this year at the federal appeals court, TikTok’s outside attorney Andrew Pincus discussed the ban’s potential ramifications, according to previous USA TODAY reporting.
“The law before this court is unprecedented and its effect would be staggering,” Pincus said. “For the first time in history, Congress has specifically targeted a specific American speaker, banning his speech and the speech of 170 million Americans.”
In recent months and in its petitions to the federal appeals court, ByteDance has claimed that selling the platform is “not possible” commercially, technologically or legally.
In its opinion, the federal appeals court said it understands that the ban on the social media app would have “significant consequences” for the platform and its users.
“Unless TikTok makes a qualified divestiture by January 19, 2025… the platform will be effectively unavailable in the United States, at least for a while,” the advisory said.
Contributing: David Shepardson, Reuters
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: TikTok ban: Federal appeals court upholds law
