US Court Upholds TikTok Ban Law, Company Likely to Face Loss of 170 Million Users

TikTok’s future in the United States is surrounded by uncertainty as a US court of appeals has upheld the new law that might lead to the banning of the Chinese video app. The three-judge bench on Friday rejected TikTok’s petition to overturn the law on grounds that it violates the first amendment of the US constitution. 

“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,” said the US court judges in the order, according to the New York Times. 

If the US bans TikTok, it will hugely affect the company’s business, as it is one of its biggest markets with around 170 million users. 

“TikTok’s millions of users will need to find alternative media of communication...That burden is attributable to China’s hybrid commercial threat to US national security, not to the US government, which engaged with TikTok through a multi-year process in an effort to find an alternative solution,” said the judge, Douglas Ginsburg, as per the Guardian report. 

What is the US law that bans TikTok? 

The US’s new law signed by President Joe Biden will come into force on January 19, 2025. The law was passed in April this year and the US lawmakers contested that the Chinese video app poses a threat to national security. The law mandates that ByteDance, which is the parent company of TikTok, sell the app to a domestic entity in America. The law empowers the US president to decide whether a sale or a similar transaction removes TikTok from “foreign adversary” control. 

Earlier, Forbes reported that the Chinese app was used to spy on journalists, criticise US politicians and mishandle users' data in America. 

“Ban is inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people,” said TikTok in a statement on Friday. The company said that it will now appeal to the US Supreme Court.