A federal appeals court has unanimously voted to uphold a law that could ban TikTok in the U.S. unless the social network divests from Chinese ownership.
The decision comes seven months after TikTok filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the ban. Friday’s ruling from the appeals court rejects TikTok’s claims that the law violates the U.S. Constitution’s commitment to free speech and individual liberty.
“The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” the court’s opinion reads. “Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.”
TikTok responded to the ruling by signaling plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.
“The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said in a statement to TechCrunch. “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people.”
President Biden signed the sell-or-ban law back in April, giving ByteDance until January 19 to sell the app or face a ban. The bill followed four years of allegations from the U.S. government that TikTok’s ties to China pose a national security risk and that it exposes Americans’ sensitive information to the Chinese government.
While the ban’s terms are set to take effect next month, that doesn’t mean that the app will necessarily be removed from the iOS App Store and Google Play Store right away, as ByteDance indicates that it will take the case to the Supreme Court.
In addition, President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office could change things if he chooses to intervene. During his campaign, Trump promised voters that he would save the popular social media app if elected.
Former Trump adviser and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway also recently told The Washington Post that Trump “appreciates the breadth and reach of TikTok” and that “there are many ways to hold China to account outside alienating 180 million U.S. users each month.”
Although Trump was the one to initiate calls to ban the app during his first term, he took a different approach during his 2024 campaign and is now concerned that a TikTok ban would benefit Meta.
ByteDance has said it won’t sell its U.S. operations. Even if ByteDance wanted to sell the app, the Chinese government would likely block a sale because it would need to approve the transfer of TikTok’s algorithms. Plus, TikTok argued in its lawsuit that a sale would be technologically impossible, as “millions of lines of software code” would need to be moved to a new owner.
The ban would not be a first for TikTok, as the social network has been banned in numerous countries, including India, Senegal, Nepal, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Iran.
This story was updated to include a statement from TikTok.
