Tech Desk 
Dec 14, 2024
In a move which obliges TikTok to somehow overturn a law requiring its parent company to divest of it, a US court dismissed its appeal to be granted some respite.
Both TikTok and its Chinese parent filed an emergency motion with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia earlier this week on Monday, requesting some more time to take their case to the US Supreme Court.
Had it not been for court actions, the companies warned that the law would "shut down TikTok — one of the nation's most popular speech platforms — for its more than 170 million domestic monthly users."
However, the court downplayed the plea, stating that TikTok and ByteDance had not identified a previous case "in which a court, after rejecting a constitutional challenge to an Act of Congress, has enjoined the Act from going into effect while review is sought in the Supreme Court," said a court order on Friday.
Citing a TikTok spokesperson, Reuters reported that the company is eyeing to take its case to the apex court, "which has an established historical record of protecting Americans' right to free speech."
"Continued Chinese control of the TikTok application poses a continuing threat to national security," argued the US Justice Department.
As per the law, TikTok is set to be banned in the US unless the parent company divests it by January 19. The law in question does not only have the authority to ban TikTok, but it also possesses powers to ban other apps owned and operated by foreign countries if they pose a risk to Americans' data.
