Appeals Court Upholds Ban on TikTok Unless Chinese Parent ByteDance Divests It

Key Takeaways

• A federal appeals court found that TikTok can be banned in the U.S. for reason of national security.
• The law passed earlier this year and signed by President Biden ordered TikTok parent ByteDance to shed the social media site, or it wouldn’t be able to operate in the U.S.
• The court ruled the law didn’t violate the First Amendment rights of TikTok or its users.

A federal appeals court has ruled that TikTok can be banned by the government for national security reasons.

A three-judge panel in the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a law passed by Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April that required the popular social media site’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, to divest TikTok or it would not be allowed to operate in the U.S.

The move came about on concerns that the Chinese government was using the site to surveil Americans and spread propaganda. TikTok and several of its users filed a lawsuit, arguing those claims were unjustified, and that the law violated their First Amendment rights. 

Writing for the court, Judge Douglas Ginsburg said, “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.”

The opinion noted that the potential loss of TikTok means many Americans may lose access to “to an outlet for expression, a source of community, and even a means of income.” However, it added that Congress judged it necessary “to assume that risk given the grave national-security threats it perceived.” The court found that since the lawmakers’ decision was “considered, consistent with longstanding regulatory practice, and devoid of an institutional aim to suppress particular messages or ideas, we are not in a position to set it aside.”

TikTok Likely To Ask Supreme Court To Overturn Decision

TikTok released a statement insinuating it will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” TikTok said. “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people.

“The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the U.S. and around the world on January 19th, 2025.”