US Court Rejects TikTok’s Emergency Appeal, App Faces Potential Ban
Islamabad:A US court has rejected TikTok’s emergency petition, which sought to temporarily halt a law requiring its parent company, ByteDance, to separate from the app or face a ban by January 19. The legal challenge, filed on Monday by TikTok and ByteDance in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, requested an extension to present their case before the US Supreme Court.
According to Voice of America, the court’s decision now forces TikTok to quickly approach the US Supreme Court to prevent the impending ban. The companies had warned that, if the court took no action, the law would result in TikTok being blocked for over 170 million monthly American users.
The court, in its ruling, stated that the petitioners had failed to identify any case in which the Supreme Court had ever stopped the enforcement of a law while it was under review. Under the new law, ByteDance has until January 19 to separate from TikTok, or else the app will face a ban.
This law grants the US government the authority to impose restrictions on other foreign apps that raise concerns regarding the collection of data from American citizens. The ruling further escalates the legal and regulatory challenges TikTok faces in the US amid growing national security concerns over its data practices.
