A federal appeals court in Washington upheld a law Friday that could result in social media giant TikTok’s eventual ban in the United States, pointing to the national security concerns of Congress.
The ruling from a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed challenges from video-sharing app TikTok; its China-based parent company, ByteDance; and a group of its users, who argued the law would infringe on the free-speech rights of the platform and its users.
The law mandates the company’s U.S. subsidiary be sold or face a ban, and it is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 19 unless President Joe Biden grants a 90-day extension based on progress toward a qualified divestiture, the ruling states.
