US Appeals Court Upholds TikTok Law Forcing Its Sale

TikTok is now one step closer to a potential ban in the United States following a significant court ruling. On Friday, a federal appeals court upheld a law requiring the popular social media platform, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, to either sell its assets to a non-Chinese entity or face a nationwide ban. This ruling marks the latest development in a long-running dispute between the US government and TikTok.

ByteDance has been given until January 19 to comply with the sale or face the app being banned from the country.

Judge Douglas Ginsburg, who was part of the ruling panel, explained that the possible impact on TikTok’s millions of American users is due to what he described as “China’s hybrid commercial threat to US national security,” not actions taken by the US government. He emphasized that the government had attempted to work with TikTok over several years to find an alternative resolution.