US court denies TikTok’s plea to stop likely ban until Supreme Court review
Al JazeeraTikTok spokesperson says the company’s Chinese owners plan to take its case to the Supreme Court. A United States federal appeals court has rejected a request by the social media platform TikTok to halt enforcement of a law requiring the company’s Chinese owners to divest or face a ban in the country until the Supreme Court reviews its challenge of the statute. In the request, the lawyers had asked for a “modest delay” in enforcing the law so the Supreme Court could review the case and the incoming Trump administration could “determine its position” on the matter. A TikTok spokesperson said after the ruling that the company plans to take its case to the Supreme Court, “which has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech”. The US Justice Department had opposed TikTok’s request for a pause, saying in a court filing this week that the parties had already proposed a schedule that was “designed for the precise purpose” of allowing a Supreme Court review of the law before it took effect.