TikTok faces US ban after losing court appeal

TikTok faces a US ban after it lost an appeal on Friday against a law requiring the video-sharing app to divest from its Chinese parent company by January 19.

The potential ban could strain US-China relations just as president-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office on January 20.

TikTok will likely take the case to the Supreme court and will be looking to Trump, who has emerged as an unlikely ally, arguing that a ban would mainly benefit Meta's platforms owned by Mark Zuckerberg.

Trump's stance reflects broader conservative criticism of Meta for allegedly suppressing right-wing content, including Trump's ban from Facebook after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.

The US government alleges TikTok allows Beijing to collect data and spy on users. It also says TikTok is a conduit to spread propaganda, though China and app owner ByteDance strongly deny these claims.

The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, would block TikTok from US app stores and web hosting services unless ByteDance sells the platform by January 19.

While recognizing that "170 million Americans use TikTok to create and view all sorts of free expression," the three-judge panel unanimously upheld the law's premise that divesting it from China's control "is essential to protect our national security."

They found that the law did not oppose free speech as it was "devoid of an institutional aim to suppress particular messages or ideas."

The judges also disagreed that less drastic alternatives than a sale by ByteDance would solve the security issues.

"This conclusion is supported by ample evidence that the Act is the least restrictive means of advancing the Government's compelling national security interests," the judges said in their opinion.

Trump's position marks a reversal from Trump's first term, when he tried to ban TikTok over similar security concerns.

That effort got bogged down in the courts when a federal judge questioned how the move would affect free speech and blocked the initiative.

Trump's newly nominated tech policy czar David Sacks also opposes the ban as government overreach.

Trump's shift coincides with his connection to Jeff Yass, a major Republican donor with ByteDance investments.