A federal appeals court will hear oral arguments Monday in TikTok’s challenge to a law requiring a sale or ban of the app in the U.S., in a case that could determine Congress’ ability to regulate the company and other platforms for national security or other reasons.
TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, along with a group of its users, are set to urge a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that the law undermines their free-speech rights and unconstitutionally targets the social media platform.
The law, passed by Congress earlier this year, mandates that Tiktok’s American subsidiary be divested from China-based ownership or be blocked in the United States. TikTok says it is “technologically, commercially, and legally infeasible” to divest the U.S. operations.
