In a significant legal development, TikTok’s request for an emergency injunction to prevent its impending ban in the United States has been denied. This ruling leaves the company facing a firm deadline of January 19 to exit the U.S. market, while it prepares to appeal to the Supreme Court in hopes of overturning the decision.
A ruling issued on Friday by the District of Columbia Court of Appeals determined that there were no grounds for granting a temporary injunction against the ban. The court stated that such a move would not only delay the enforcement of a legal decision but would also effectively suspend a congressional law deemed constitutional by the court.
The court’s order emphasized that TikTok has not provided any precedent in which an Act of Congress was blocked from implementation during a judicial review following a rejection of its constitutionality. Furthermore, the court highlighted TikTok’s argument that the ban infringes upon the First Amendment right to free speech. In its previous filing, TikTok argued that the Supreme Court is likely to examine the ban, citing that restrictions on free speech typically pass scrutiny only under rare conditions.
However, the Court of Appeals had already dismissed TikTok’s First Amendment argument in an earlier ruling, reinforcing that it unanimously found the Act meets the stringent criteria of constitutional scrutiny.
The court further ruled that laws limiting free speech must be carefully crafted to serve a compelling governmental interest and must also represent the least restrictive means to achieve those goals.
The government, according to the Court of Appeals’ December 6 judgment, provided two key national security justifications for the Act: addressing the potential data collection efforts by the People’s Republic of China and minimizing the risk of covert content manipulation by the Chinese government on TikTok.
In response, TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, proposed several alternatives, none of which were deemed sufficient to meet the government’s national security objectives as effectively as divestiture would.
Despite TikTok’s repeated denials of connections to the Chinese government, U.S. lawmakers continue to express skepticism. The company has committed $1.5 billion to safeguard U.S. user data through an initiative known as Project Texas, which involves partnering with an American company to manage user data domestically.
While Friday’s court ruling presents a notable challenge for TikTok, the company remains resolute in its intentions to take the matter to the Supreme Court. If the highest court does not side with TikTok, the only remaining option for U.S. users to access the platform will be if ByteDance divests its American operations.
“We are committed to appealing this case to the Supreme Court, which has a strong history of upholding Americans’ right to free speech,” TikTok stated. “The voices of over 170 million Americans and countless others worldwide risk being silenced on January 19 unless this ban is lifted.”
