Federal Court Denies TikTok’s Appeal, Pressuring Chinese Parent Company to Sell or Face Immediate Ban – One America News Network
OAN Staff Blake Wolf
5:21 PM – Friday, December 6, 2024
A federal appeals court has upheld TikTok’s ban, which is scheduled to begin in January unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests its ownership.
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The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Justice Department’s decision was “constitutional,” rejecting ByteDance’s appeal for relief.
“We find that the sections of the Act which the petitioners have standing to challenge, specifically those concerning TikTok and its associated entities, withstand constitutional examination,” stated Senior Judge Douglas Ginsburg in the decision. “Thus, we deny the petitions.”
“The First Amendment is intended to safeguard free speech in the United States. In this instance, the Government acted purely to preserve that freedom against a foreign adversary and to limit that adversary’s capacity to collect data on U.S. citizens,” Ginsburg added.
The legislation, enacted by President Joe Biden in April, empowers the government to prohibit the app nationally, citing concerns regarding potential espionage and manipulation of the over 170 million Americans who utilize it.
“Today’s ruling is a significant measure in preventing the Chinese government from leveraging TikTok to gather sensitive data on millions of Americans, covertly influence content delivered to U.S. audiences, and jeopardize our national security,” remarked Attorney General Merrick Garland following the verdict.
“The D.C. Circuit acknowledged that this act safeguards the national security of the United States in a manner aligned with the Constitution. The Justice Department is dedicated to protecting Americans’ sensitive data from authoritarian regimes that aim to exploit companies under their influence,” he added.
TikTok and ByteDance are preparing to bring the matter before the Supreme Court, arguing that the ban constitutes unconstitutional “censorship of the American people.”
“Regrettably, the TikTok ban was initiated and advanced based on misleading, flawed, and speculative information, leading to outright censorship of the American populace,” said TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes, who warned that the ban would “silence the voices of over 170 million Americans in the US and globally on January 19th, 2025.”
“The Supreme Court has a longstanding history of defending Americans’ right to free speech, and we anticipate they will uphold that right on this critical constitutional matter,” he added.
The Chinese government has threatened to prevent the sale of TikTok’s algorithm, which curates specialized content for users based on their interactions, compelling any prospective buyer to create a completely new algorithm system—even though the original algorithm was the foundation of the app’s success.
“The platform encompasses millions of lines of software code that have been meticulously developed by thousands of engineers over several years,” stated the unsuccessful petition.
Amidst these developments, there is increasing hope that President-elect Donald Trump will successfully transfer control of the app to American investors.
“I am hopeful that President Trump will enable an American acquisition of TikTok, allowing its continued operation in the United States, and I eagerly anticipate welcoming the app in America under new ownership,” commented Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) of Michigan, labeling the recent ruling a “defeat for the Chinese Communist Party.”
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