The US requests that the court reject TikTok’s challenge to the law that would ban the app
The US government has requested that a judge dismiss TikTok’s attempt to thwart a bill that may outlaw the app.
A federal appeals court has been asked by the US Justice Department to deny TikTok’s urgent request to temporarily halt a legislation that requires its Chinese parent firm, ByteDance, to sell up the app by January 19 or risk being banned.
In order to postpone the law’s execution while the Supreme Court reviews it, TikTok and ByteDance filed the application with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Monday. The businesses threatened to shut down TikTok if they didn’t take action, which would impact its 170 million monthly users in the US.
“Continued Chinese control of the TikTok application poses a continuing threat to national security,” the Justice Department said in its argument against the postponement.
The agency also admitted that limitations on technical support and upgrades would eventually make the software unworkable, even though a ban would not instantly prevent users who already had it from using it.
The rule, which requires ByteDance to divest TikTok in the US within six weeks or risk being banned, was affirmed last week by a three-judge court.
TikTok and ByteDance have claimed that postponing enforcement will give the incoming government time to reconsider its position and asked the court to take President-elect Donald Trump’s expressed opposition to the ban into account.
TikTok’s future currently depends on a number of variables, such as if President Joe Biden extends the divestment deadline by ninety days and whether President Trump, who becomes office on January 20, takes action to stop the ban.
In 2020, during his first term, Trump tried to outlaw TikTok, but the courts stopped his attempt.
If the legislation is maintained, it gives the US government extensive authority to ban other foreign-owned applications that raise questions about how Americans’ data is collected. In 2020, there was a similar attempt to outlaw Tencent-owned WeChat, but the courts similarly halted the move.
A request for comment from TikTok was not immediately answered.
