• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, December 15, 2024

A federal appeals court late Friday rejected TikTok's request for an emergency order halting a law that will result in a ban on the app unless it separates from China-based parent company ByteDance.

In a two-page order, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said a temporary injunction was “unwarranted” for several reasons, including that TikTok still has time to ask the Supreme Court to halt the law before it takes effect.

The order came one week after the circuit court upheld the Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (H.R. 7521), which will prohibit app stores and websites from distributing TikTok unless it's divested by ByteDance.

The law gives ByteDance a January 19 deadline to find a buyer for TikTok.

The statute also provides that President Joe Biden can extend that period for up to three months, but Biden has not yet indicated whether he will do so.

The measure was largely driven by fears that the Chinese government may be able to access data about TikTok's users, and use the app to influence public opinion.

Earlier this year, TikTok and a group of content creators challenged the law in court, arguing that it violates the First Amendment by shutting down a communications platform.

On December 6, the circuit court rejected that argument, ruling that the law's restrictions on speech were justified by national security concerns.

TikTok then asked the circuit court to temporarily block the law until the Supreme Court can weigh in.

“Starting on January 19, the Act will inflict extreme and irreparable harm on petitioners by banning their operation of TikTok in the United States on the eve of a presidential inauguration,” TikTok wrote in a petition filed with the circuit court on December 9. “This will deprive TikTok’s base of 170 million monthly users and creators of access to one of the country’s most popular speech platforms; destroy TikTok’s ability to attract advertisers; and cripple petitioners’ ability to recruit and retain talent.”

The company added that even a brief, one-month shutdown would lead to a 29% loss of TikTok's “total targeted global advertising revenue” for 2025.