TikTok is one step closer to being banned in the US

New York CNN — TikTok has lost its bid to strike down a law that could result in the platform being banned in the United States. Denying TikTok’s argument that the law was unconstitutional, the judges found that the law does not “contravene the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States,” nor does it “violate the Fifth Amendment guarantee of equal protection of the laws.” The ruling means that the platform is one step closer to facing a US ban — unless it can convince Chinese parent-company ByteDance to sell and find a buyer — starting on January 19, 2025. In their ruling, a three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit acknowledged that TikTok’s American users “create and view all sorts of free expression and engage with one another and the world.” However, they wrote, “in part precisely because of the platform’s expansive reach, Congress and multiple Presidents determined that divesting it from the control is essential to protect our national security.” Finding in favor of the US government The court’s ruling Friday largely deferred to Congress, finding that lawmakers acted within their constitutional powers and followed appropriate procedure in crafting the TikTok law. Emarketer principal analyst Jasmine Enberg described the ruling as a “major setback, but not yet the end of the road for TikTok.” “If an appeal to the Supreme Court also doesn’t work out in TikTok’s favor and the ban is enforced, it would cause major upheaval in the social landscape, benefitting Meta, YouTube and Snap, while hurting content creators and small businesses that rely on the app to make a living,” Enberg wrote in an email. “The government cannot shut down an entire communications platform unless it poses extremely serious and imminent harm, and there’s no evidence of that here.” TikTok users also quickly reacted to the ruling on Friday morning.