One of the most popular video sharing apps in the world might not be on your phone come next year. A U.S. ban of TikTok will move forward unless Chinese-owned tech company ByteDance divests its control by January 19 after an appeals court rejected its argument against the constitutionality of the new law.
“The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” read the decision from the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday. “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.”
President Biden signed the TikTok ban into law earlier this year after it passed in Congress as part of a foreign military aid package. The provision has been facing legal challenges ever since, but the latest loss and impending deadline leaves ByteDance less time and fewer options for avoiding a total ban of the app used by more than 170 million Americans.
A TikTok spokesman told NPR today that it will appeal the latest setback to the Supreme Court. Incoming President-Elect Donald Trump has also promised to “save TikTok,” though it’s not clear what form that would take. It could mean another attempt to negotiate the sale of the app to a U.S. tech company like Microsoft or Apple. Earlier this week, Trump shared TikTok stats on Truth Social about his viral McDonalds and garbage truck videos from back during the campaign.
Gaming communities in particular have always thrived online, especially on social media, and Tiktok is no different. The short-form video platform has become many fans’ go-to for reaction videos to the most popular new releases like Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, as well as daily tips and meme content for live-service games like Fortnite and Overwatch 2. Despite attempts by Instagram and YouTube to copy its mechanics and algorithmic recommendation machine, neither has so far been able to replicate the formula at a similar level of success.
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