Federal appeals court takes step closer to banning TikTok in US: Here's what to know

A federal appeals court is backing legislation that would ban TikTok in the United States if the social media app's Chinese parent company does not sell the platform by January.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted in favor to deny the review of three petitions for relief from TikTok and ByteDance, the platform's parent company, on Friday. The court found the petitions, which aimed to reverse the passed legislation, unconstitutional.

In the spring, Congress approved the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act and President Joe Biden swiftly signed the bill, which will take effect on Jan. 19, 2025. Under the act, TikTok, if still operated by ByteDance, will become illegal for distribution in the United States. The app will be illegal to download from the Apple App Store or Google Play, and internet service providers will be required to make the app inaccessible on U.S. internet browsers.

Users who have TikTok on their devices would still be able to use the app under the act, but banning TikTok from app stores would prohibit future software updates.

However, if ByteDance sells the platform to another company before Jan. 19, the app will remain available in the states.

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What is TikTok?

TikTok is a social media application known for its short-form mobile videos. Users can create, post and interact with videos on the app. TikTok is popular for its scrolling algorithm and allows users to post videos between three seconds and 10 minutes long. Users may add different filters, backgrounds, music and stickers to their videos.

Why did the government create, pass the TikTok bill?

TikTok has been a national security concern among government officials for several years. Officials are worried ByteDance, which is based in Beijing, has access to American data and is sharing it with Chinese government surveillance.

In 2019, former president and now President-elect Donald Trump, issued a national emergency upon finding that "foreign adversaries," in this case ByteDance, were "exploiting vulnerabilities in information and communications technology and services," the federal appeals court opinion states. As a part of his response, Trump prohibited any transactions with the company.

In 2021, Biden issued a new executive order regarding ByteDance, which said that the company "continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States," the federal appeals court opinion states. In 2022, Biden signed a bill that prohibited the use of TikTok on government devices.

TikTok's fight back

Amidst the national security allegations, TikTok and ByteDance have denied the claims. During arguments made against the ban to the federal appeals court earlier this year, TikTok's outside lawyer Andrew Pincus addressed the ban's potential effects, per previous USA TODAY reporting.

"The law before this court is unprecedented, and its effect would be staggering," Pincus said. "For the first time in history, Congress has expressly targeted a specific U.S. speaker, banning its speech and the speech of 170 million Americans."

Over the past few months and in its petitions to the federal appeals court, ByteDance has claimed that selling the platform is "not possible," commercially, technologically or legally.

In its opinion, the federal appeals court stated that is understands the ban on the social media app would have "significant implications" for the platform and its users.

"Unless TikTok executes a qualified divestiture by January 19, 2025 ... its platform will effectively be unavailable in the United States, at least for a time," the opinion states.

Contributing: David Shepardson, Reuters

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Follow her on X and Instagram @gretalcross. Story idea? Email her at gcross@gannett.com.

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