A U.S. federal appeals court has upheld a law requiring Chinese-based ByteDance to divest its popular short video app TikTok in the United States by early next year or face a ban. The decision is a major win for the Justice Department and opponents of the Chinese-owned app and a devastating blow to TikTok parent ByteDance.
TikTok plans to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. The law gives ByteDance until January 19 to sell or divest TikTok’s U.S. assets or face a ban. The decision has raised the prospects of an unprecedented ban on a social media app used by 170 million Americans.
The Justice Department has argued that under Chinese ownership, TikTok poses a threat because of its access to vast personal data of Americans, asserting China can covertly manipulate information that Americans consume via TikTok. The court noted that China’s relationship with TikTok parent ByteDance threatens to distort U.S. speech and “manipulate public discourse.”
The ruling comes amid growing trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies. Free speech advocates have criticized the decision, with the American Civil Liberties Union saying, “Banning TikTok blatantly violates the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans who use this app to express themselves and communicate with people around the world.”
The court’s decision is a significant win for the Justice Department and could lead to a ban on other foreign-owned apps that raise concerns about the collection of Americans’ data. The ruling could also open the door to a future crackdown on many other foreign-owned apps.
