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The US Justice Department has requested that a federal appeals court reject TikTok’s emergency bid to temporarily block a law requiring its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest the app by 19 January or face a ban.
TikTok and ByteDance filed the motion on Monday with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, seeking to delay the law’s implementation pending Supreme Court review. The companies warned that failing to act would result in TikTok’s shutdown, affecting its 170 million monthly US users.
The Justice Department argued against the delay, stating that “continued Chinese control of the TikTok application poses a continuing threat to national security.”
The department also acknowledged that while a ban would not immediately stop users who already have the app from using it, restrictions on technical support and updates would eventually render the app unusable.
Last week, a three-judge panel upheld the law, which mandates ByteDance to divest TikTok in the US within six weeks or face a ban.
TikTok and ByteDance have urged the court to consider President-elect Donald Trump’s stated opposition to the ban and argued that delaying enforcement would allow the incoming administration time to review its stance.
The future of TikTok now hinges on several factors, including whether President Joe Biden grants a 90-day extension to the divestment deadline and whether President Trump, who takes office on 20 January, acts to prevent the ban.
Trump previously attempted to ban TikTok in 2020 during his first term but was blocked by the courts.
The law, if upheld, grants the US government broad powers to prohibit other foreign-owned apps that pose concerns about data collection from Americans. A similar attempt was made in 2020 to ban Tencent-owned WeChat, but that effort was also blocked by the courts.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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