TikTok has lost its bid to strike down a law that could result in platform being banned in US.
A US appeals court upheld the law in ruling Friday.
Denying TikTok argument that law was unconstitutional the judges found that law does not contravene the First Amendment to Constitution of the US nor does it violate the Fifth Amendment guarantee of equal protection of laws.
The ruling means platform is one step closer to facing a US ban until it can convince Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell and find a buyer starting on January 19, 2025.
US app stores and internet services could face heavy fines for hosting TikTok if it is not sold.
In a statement Patrick Toomey deputy director of ACLU National Security Project said the ruling sets a flawed and dangerous precedent.
Banning TikTok violates the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans who use this app to express themselves and communicate with people around the world.
“The government cannot shut down an entire communications platforms unless it poses extremely serious and imminent harm and there is no evidence of that there.”
this is nuts one consumer said in video posted on platform.
“I do not want Mark Zuckerberg to own Tiktok that would not make me feel better”
In a statement TikTok said it would appeal the decision
“The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting American right to free speech and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue” Michael Hughes said
“Unfortunately the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate flawed and information resulting in outright censorship of American people.
The Tiktok ban unless stopped will silence voices of more than 170 million Americans here in US and around globe on January 19th 2025.
TikTok sued to block law in May arguing that it infringed on free speech of its over 170 million American users and unfairly singled out platform.
The court said that lawsuits with claims from a group of individual TikTok creators.
In their ruling three judge panel at US Court of Appeals for District of Columbia District said that TikTok American users create and view all free expression and engage with one another and world.
President Joe Biden signed a bill in April that requires platform to sold to new non Chinese owner or be banned in US following years of concern on Capitol Hill that ByteDance pose a national security risk.
The lawmakers have worried that ByteDance could share user data with Chinese government or chinese government could force company to TikTok algorithm to spread propaganda.
The court ruling Friday deferred to Congress finding lawmakers acted within constitutional powers adn followed right procedure in crafting the TikTok law.
The legislation narrowly addressed the specific problem of TikTok china ties the judges said and does not suppress content or require a mix of content.
On Friday the judges sided with US government of deal negotiations saying they can fault nor second guess.
During the litigation TikTok implied that Us government acted in bad faith by pursuing negotiations for months before suddenly cutting off communication and then backing legislation that Biden signed.
US government lawyers replied that draft deal was insufficient to resolve the security worries.