TikTok is seeking an expedited ruling in its lawsuit against the potential ban in the United States (US), which is poised to take down the short-video app by January 19, 2025.
TikTok, its Chinese parent company ByteDance, and a group of content creators with the US Justice Department requested the appeals court on Friday to set a fast-track schedule for the case and issue its verdict by December 2023. The expedited ruling will allow TikTok and ByteDance to take the matter to the Supreme Court in time if the ruling does not turn out in their favour.
TikTok and ByteDance filed the lawsuit earlier this month after President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that forces the short-video app to sell its local operations in the US by January next year or face a permanent nationwide ban. The legislation, called Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, has been brought on the pretext of national security concerns by regulators and critics of TikTok, who have expressed concern that the Chinese government could use it to spy on Americans.
TikTok’s lawsuit relies heavily on the First Amendment in the US Constitution, which protects the right to freedom of speech. TikTok has strongly condemned the legislation, saying that it would take away the right of 170 million Americans to “communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere”, according to the complaint.
Days after TikTok took the law to court, a group of content creators from different states, including Texas, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Tennessee, challenged the possible ban in court. “Although they come from different places, professions, walks of life, and political persuasions, they are united in their view that TikTok provides them a unique and irreplaceable means to express themselves and form community,” stated their lawsuit.
If TikTok fails to secure a ruling in its favour and does not divest from its parent ByteDance, it will be removed from app stores and web hosts after January 19, 2025 in the US. TikTok has, on several occasions, rejected reports that it has any links to the Chinese government, but the US intelligence agencies are adamant that the app could be used by China for “traditional espionage operations”.
