A U.S. federal appeals court unanimously decided to dismiss TikTok’s lawsuit challenging a law that could force TikTok to sever ties with its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a total ban in the United States by mid-January 2025.
this U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Friday’s ruling that the government’s actions were justified on national security grounds Tik TokOngoing legal battle to maintain operations in the United States.
The three-judge panel stressed that the government’s primary motivation was to protect free speech in the United States from potential foreign interference.
“The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. The government acted solely to protect that freedom from foreign adversary states and to limit the adversary’s ability to collect data on Americans,” the court said in its ruling. Conclusion, the ruling can be read here.
“The government took action with the sole purpose of protecting that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and limiting that adversary’s ability to collect data on Americans.”
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
The ruling also addressed the complexities of TikTok’s corporate structure, ownership and potential national security risks.
Byte bounceAccording to the ruling, TikTok’s parent company is incorporated in the Cayman Islands but retains significant operations in China. Founded by Chinese Yiming ZhangRetaining 21% ownership, the company operates multiple platforms globally, including Douyinthe Chinese version of TikTok.
“TikTok Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ByteDance and is also incorporated abroad. TikTok Ltd. operates the TikTok platform globally (except in China). The government refers to TikTok entities that operate the platform outside the United States as “TikTok Global” ”, referring to its operations in the United States as “TikTok US,” the court said.
The court’s ruling highlights how Chinese law requires companies to “cooperate with state-directed cybersecurity supervision and inspections.” In his ruling, the judge cited “compelling evidence that the Chinese government may use Chinese information technology companies as vectors for espionage and sabotage.”
Court recognizes significant impact on TikTok 170 million US users. However, it emphasized that this burden could be attributed to “China’s hybrid commercial threats to U.S. national security.”
If TikTok fails to find a buyer by January 19, 2025, the platform will effectively become unavailable in the United States. TikTok parent company ByteDance has previously claimed it has no plans to sell the platform.
Earlier this year, ByteDance issued a statement on its news aggregation app Toutiao, saying that “reports from foreign media that ByteDance is exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue.”
In response to the latest development, TikTok said, “The Supreme Court has a strong track record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do so on this important constitutional issue.”
In its latest statement, TikTok argued that the ban signed by the U.S. President Joe Biden Earlier this year, the bill “was conceived and advanced based on inaccurate, flawed, and hypothetical information, resulting in a thorough censorship of the American people.”
“Unless stopped, the TikTok ban will silence the voices of more than 170 million Americans in the United States and around the world on January 19, 2025.”
Tik Tok
“Unless stopped, the TikTok ban will silence the voices of more than 170 million Americans in the United States and around the world on January 19, 2025.”
Amid legal uncertainty, president-elect Donald TrumpTrump, who initially proposed banning TikTok during the previous administration, may be willing to hold off on the platform.
News outlets reported in November, citing sources, that Trump was expected to take steps to preserve the video streaming platform’s presence in the United States after returning to office.
“To everyone who wants to save TikTok in America, please vote for Trump. The other side is shutting it down, but I am now a big star on TikTok,” Trump said in a video posted on his social media platform , the truth socialearly September. President-elect’s TikTok account has gained nearly 15 million Followers to date.
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