A US federal appeals court has refused to stay the order forcing the audiovisual content platform TikTok to sever all ties with its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, by January 2025, after the company requested a stay of the order.
The company’s request for the stay came after the court upheld the law banning the social media platform in the US unless ByteDance divests from the app by January 19.
TikTok has requested an extension while it appeals the decision and while it waits for the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump to rule, according to Bloomberg.
In this regard, TikTok has argued that the Trump Administration could pause the application of the law or “mitigate its most serious potential consequences.” The law gives the president and attorney general “broad discretion over the timing and implementation of its provisions,” according to the company.
In addition, the company has also said that it plans to take the case to the US Supreme Court. “The voices of more than 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world will be silenced on January 19, 2025 unless the TikTok ban is stopped,” the company has argued.
Thus, they have argued that a pause would not represent an “imminent threat to national security”, but that the ban would significantly harm users and the company.
In the event that TikTok decides to appeal to the Supreme Court, the highest judicial authority in the country must rule before the order goes into effect on January 19. If it decides to hear the case, the order will be suspended until a final decision.
If, on the other hand, the courts do not act, TikTok will be removed from mobile app stores on January 19, which will no longer be available to Americans who do not yet use the platform. Over time, current users will not be able to access the application, as Bloomberg anticipates.
The Justice Department, for its part, asked the court to reject the request, explaining that an “indefinite delay,” possibly lasting more than a year, “would be especially detrimental to the interests of the government and the public in the enforcement of the law.”
