TikTok has suffered a setback in its fight against a law which will ban it in the US unless it is sold by ByteDance, its Chinese parent company.
In December, a court in the US rejected its attempt to appeal the law, passed in April- paving the way for its potential ban.
The video sharing app has millions of users worldwide, but has faced questions over the security of data and links to the government in Beijing.
Who wants to ban TikTok in the US and why?
Lawmakers from both major US political parties supported a law that bans TikTok unless ByteDance agrees to sell to a non-Chinese company.
They fear the Chinese government could force ByteDance to hand over data about TikTok’s 170 million US users.
TikTok insists it would not provide foreign user data to the Chinese government.
In April, following approval by Congress, President Joe Biden signed a bill paving the way for TikTok’s forced sale.
Previous attempts to block the app in the US on national security grounds have failed.
Donald Trump tried to ban the app while he was in the White House in 2020.
But he criticised the new legislation during his successful bid to return as the US president in the 2024 US election, arguing that limiting TikTok would unfairly benefit Facebook.
Mr Biden signing the bill into law did not mean an immediate US ban for TikTok, but it did start a ticking clock.
The legislation gives ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok to a new buyer, with an additional three-month grace period, before any ban would take effect.
TikTok said this could mean it is either forced to sell or shut down in the US by 19 January 2025.
But the company’s fight against the legislation in court, which began when it sued to block the law in May, could take years.
Trump’s victory in the 2024 US Election may also throw TikTok a lifeline.
The president-elect said in the run-up to the November elections that he would not let a ban take effect.
How would a TikTok ban work?
The most straightforward way for the US to ban TikTok would be to remove it from app stores, such as those operated by Apple and Google for iOS and Android devices.
App stores are how most people download apps on to their smartphones and tablets, so the ban would stop new users from getting TikTok.
What has TikTok said it will do about the ban?
TikTok has previously called the law “unconstitutional” and said it is an affront to the US right to free speech.
Its arguments were heard by a three-judge panel at a Washington DC federal appeals court in September.
TikTok’s lawyers told the court that a ban would have a “staggering” impact on the free speech of its US users, and creators opposing the law also voiced concerns about its impact on their work.
But its appeal was rejected by the DC court in a ruling issued on Friday 6 December, which found in the favour of the law.
The platform said it will take its legal fight to the US’s highest legal authority, the Supreme Court.
Read the full article by Liv McMahon here / Courtesy of BBC
