WASHINGTON, (Bernama-dpa): Chinese short-form video-hosting service TikTok has suffered a setback in its battle against the US law mandating the sale of the popular app, reported German news agency dpa.
An appeals court here declared the sale to be legal on Friday and now TikTok's remaining option is to approach the Supreme Court of the United States.
The subsidiary of the China-based ByteDance group argued in its lawsuit that the law violates the freedom of speech enshrined in the US Constitution. However, the court noted that the law aligns with long-standing regulatory practices and that the US Congress did not intend to suppress specific expressions.
According to the law that came into effect in April, ByteDance has around a year to divest from TikTok before the app is banned from app stores in the US. The justification cites the risk that China could gain access to US data and exert political influence.
The TikTok petition states, among other things, that the separation from ByteDance proposed by the law for remaining in the US "is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally."
Initially, the law gave ByteDance 270 days to divest from TikTok. US President Joe Biden can extend this deadline by another three months if progress in sale talks is evident. However, TikTok clearly stated that, from the company's perspective, this would not happen.
"There is no question: the act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025, silencing the 170 million Americans who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere," the petition stated.
According to media reports, ByteDance does not plan to negotiate a sale of TikTok.
On January 20, Donald Trump is scheduled to be sworn in as the next US president. During his first term, he failed in court in an attempt to force a sale of TikTok.
Recently, during the election campaign, he spoke against a ban on the platform. However, he cannot revoke the law.
ByteDance is considered a Chinese company in the US by both main political parties.
TikTok counters that ByteDance is nearly 60 per cent owned by Western investors. The company's headquarters are in the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean.
However, US politicians argue that the Chinese founder has control, thanks to higher voting rights at a roughly 20 per cent stake, and that ByteDance's main headquarters are in Beijing, where it cannot escape the influence of authorities.
At the same time, TikTok itself noted in the lawsuit that the Chinese government would want to block the sale of the recommendation software, developed in China, which is the core of the app.
The algorithm decides which video is displayed next and is very sensitive, among other things, to how long a clip on a specific topic is viewed. - Bernama-dpa
