Athira Sethu
Kochi, 7 December 2024
A US federal appeals court has given a verdict that may force TikTok to sell its US operations by January 19, 2024, or face ban.
While it’s a huge win for the U.S. Justice Department and opponents of the app, it is a crushing loss for ByteDance, which operates TikTok. If that deadline isn’t pushed back, TikTok stands to lose access to the market that is its biggest anywhere at over 170 million users in the U.S.
It has been opposed by free speech groups. However, the court found that the law was aimed at solving the concerns regarding national security of foreign control of TikTok. The judges mentioned that the U.S. government had made immense efforts to safeguard national security and that the law was in place to restrain China from getting hold of American data and information.
The firm and its parent company, ByteDance, contend that the law is unconstitutional as it infringes the Americans’ right to free speech, and also harms the open internet. The platform, TikTok, denies accusations that it shares US user data with the Chinese government.
The law brings wider implications to other foreign apps. It will allow the US government to shut down potentially dangerous apps from collecting some data about its users without any notice. In 2020, Former President Donald Trump tried to ban Chinese app WeChat, though he was prevented by various courts.
Shares of US tech companies like Meta and Google, which compete with TikTok, rose following the ruling by the court, indicating that investors believe that a TikTok ban may benefit their businesses.
However, as of now, it remains unclear whether TikTok will go ahead with appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court because its fate is sealed within the United States.
