Court upholds US law forcing ban or sale of Tiktok by Chinese owner ByteDance
A US court has upheld a law forcing TikTok's Chinese parent company to sell it. (AP: Richard Vogel)
In short:
A United States court has upheld a law requiring the owner of TikTok to sell the social media platform.
The law was brought into effect amid concerns about TikTok gathering vast amounts of user data and potentially passing it on to the Chinese government.
What's next?
TikTok and its China-based parent company, ByteDance, are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court.
A United States appeals court has upheld a law forcing the Chinese owner of TikTok to either sell or shut down the popular social media app.
Three judges from the US court of appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously voted to uphold the law, which requires TikTok to break ties with ByteDance or be banned by mid-January.
"The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States," said the court's opinion, which was written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg.
"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."
The laws were signed by President Joe Biden in April, amid national security concerns about the app's connection to China.
US authorities have long feared TikTok could hand its vast amounts of user data to the Chinese government.
Judges disagreed with TikTok's claim that the laws were a breach of the First Amendment. (AP: J. Scott Applewhite)
They also warned the social media platform's algorithms were vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities.
TikTok, which sued the government over the law in May, has long denied it could be used by Beijing to spy on or manipulate Americans.
Its attorneys argued the US government hasn’t provided evidence to show that the company handed over user data to the Chinese government, or manipulated content for Beijing’s benefit in the US.
Uncertainty over future of ban under Trump presidency
Both TikTok and ByteDance are expected to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
If TikTok appeals and the courts continue to uphold the law, the Justice Department of the incoming Trump administration would be tasked with enforcing it and punishing any potential violations with fines.
Donald Trump tried to ban TikTok when he was last in office. (Picture: REUTERS/Carlos Barria)
The penalties would apply to app stores that would be prohibited from offering TikTok, and internet hosting services that would be barred from supporting it.
President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term, said during the presidential campaign that he is now against a TikTok ban and would work to "save" the social media platform.
Some investors, including Trump’s former treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in purchasing the platform. Both men said earlier this year that they were launching a consortium to purchase TikTok’s US business.
AP/Reuters