TMTPOST -- TikTok will continue its efforts in the court to prevent from a complete ban in the United States due to Washington’s fears tha users data could fall into possession of the Chinese government.🦄九游娱乐(China)官方网站

Credit：Xinhua News Agency

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday ruled against TikTok’s request last week for pause of the ban that set a deadline of January 19, 2025 for a sale of its Chinese parent ByteDance Ltd. The popular short video platform and application requested an emergency pause to afford the Supreme Court time to determine if it should review the federal law that forces ByteDance to divest it. But the D.C. Circuit judges said that Congress made a "deliberate choice" to set a 270-day time frame for the sale-or-ban, "subject to one (and only one) extension."

In resonse to the apples court’s ruling, TikTok said it plans to take the case to the Supreme Court. “The voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world will be silenced on January 19th, 2025 unless the TikTok ban is halted,” TikTok said in a post on social media X late Friday.

The U.S. Congress has passed a bill and U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law that could ban TikTok in the country in April. The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act ( the “Act”) is part of a comprehensive foreign aid package providing assistance to Israel, Ukraine and other U.S allies. It gives TikTok owner ByteDance 270 days to divest its U.S. assets including TikTok, otherwise the Chinese tech giant would face a ban on its app being available in U.S. app stores or on U.S. web hosting services. It also grants the White House the authority to prolong this deadline by another 90 days if the president deems that progress has been made towards a sale.

TikTok boasts over 170 million users in the United States and holds significant economic and cultural influence. Advocates for the measure have voiced their apprehensions regarding the company's ownership structure, suggesting it could potentially grant the Chinese government access to American users' data—a claim flatly refuted by TikTok. While supporters of the potential ban say it is necessary in order to mitigate national security risks the app poses due to China-based ByteDance. TikTok previously insisted it has never shared U.S. data and never would. It has said ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country.

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump was reported last month to seek blocking the U.S. ban. If TikTok owner ByteDance doesn’t meet the deadline required by the Act, Trump could work on options to delay or even cancel the ban. One option Trump can adopt would be to leverage his administration’s authority to extend the deadline by 90 days if there is “significant progress” towards a sale, The Washington Post reported. It added that legal experts have suggested Trump could also encourage Congress to repeal the legislation altogether or influence his attorney general not to enforce it.

TikTok’s recent request to pause the U.S. ban was deemed as efforts to win time for Trump’s incoming administration to weigh in the relevant federal law. In a court filing related to the request earlier this month, TikTok has warned that a ban on its platform in the United States could result in a $1.3 billion loss in revenue and earnings for small businesses and social media creators within just one month. “These losses would grow significantly if the shutdown lasts beyond one month🦄九游娱乐(China)官方网站,” noted Blake Chandlee, TikTok’s president of global business solutions, in the filing.