TikTok Faces Supreme Court Appeal as U.S. Ban Looms

A federal appeals court upholds a law mandating TikTok's sale or ban, raising unprecedented First Amendment and national security questions.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a federal law requiring TikTok to divest from ByteDance or cease operations in the United States by January 19, 2025.
The court acknowledged the significant free speech implications of banning TikTok but deferred to the government's national security concerns regarding data collection and content manipulation by China.
Legal experts highlight that the case could set a precedent for how the First Amendment applies to social media platforms and their role in communication and information sharing.
TikTok plans to appeal to the Supreme Court, which may rule on whether the law violates constitutional protections or allow the ban to proceed without setting a broader legal precedent.
President-elect Donald Trump has expressed interest in preserving TikTok but faces limited options, as reversing the law would require congressional action or a restructuring deal acceptable to U.S. authorities.