TikTok lost an emergency bid to pause the law that could lead to its U.S. ban — meaning that the video app will likely leave the country on January 19 unless a last-ditch Supreme Court appeal can save it.
On Friday, a federal court denied TikTok’s request to temporarily freeze a law that requires its Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell the video app or face a total ban in the U.S in January.
Last week, TikTok and ByteDance filed the emergency motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia arguing that a pause would afford the Supreme Court time to determine whether it should review the law.
TikTok and ByteDance warned that without court action, the law will “shut down TikTok — one of the nation’s most popular speech platforms — for its more than 170 million domestic monthly users.”
However, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals found that granting a temporary injunction to pause TikTok’s U.S. ban and the January 19 deadline for a sale was “unwarranted.”
Judges say that Congress, which passed the law in April, made a “deliberate choice” to set a 270-day time frame for the sale-or-ban with the possibility of a one-time 90-day delay granted by the president if a sale is in progress by then.
What Can Save TikTok Now?
Friday’s ruling means that the fate of TikTok lies in the Supreme Court’s hands. The video app must now quickly move in its Supreme Court attempt to halt the pending ban.
While TikTok is expected to ask the Supreme Court to weigh in, it’s unclear if the court will actually agree to hear the case or make a decision before the law is applied on January 19.
According to CNN, if the Supreme Court, which has a six-justice conservative majority, does make a quick decision on the case, it seems likely that it will rule in favor of upholding TikTok’s ban.
“I have trouble thinking that the conservative force on the Supreme Court would not see this as a (national) security case,” Josh Schiller, partner at law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, tells CNN.
TikTok had hoped that an emergency pause would give President-elect Donald Trump time to “save” the app when he is inaugurated on January 20. Trump has repeatedly pledged to save TikTok and keep the app operating in the U.S. as usual
The New York Times reports that Trump can’t repeal a law without Congress. Although, Trump could simply refuse to enforce the TikTok ban, or otherwise make good on his pledge to leave the company alone.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
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