Appeals Court Upholds TikTok Ban In U-S

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that TikTok can be banned in the U.S. over national security concerns, upholding a federal law requiring the popular social media app to shed its Chinese ownership to keep operating.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said Congress has the power to take action against TikTok to protect U.S. interests.

The Wall Street Journal reports the ruling rejected a First Amendment challenge brought by the app and several of its star users, who argued the ban was an unconstitutional infringement on free speech.

The sell-or-ban law—signed by President Biden in April—passed with bipartisan support after lawmakers received classified briefings from the intelligence community about China’s ability to use TikTok to surveil Americans and spread Chinese propaganda.

“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” Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote for the court.

TikTok, a U.S. entity owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, has claimed that American security fears are speculative and overblown. It didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ban’s terms are set to take effect in mid-January, but that doesn’t mean that TikTok will necessarily disappear from app stores by that time.