ByteDance Seeks Urgent Court Intervention to Prevent TikTok Shutdown

On Monday, TikTok has released a statement on its official website and social media accounts, stating that it has submitted an emergency motion to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to temporarily halt the enforcement of the TikTok ban law.

Previously, the U.S. Federal Appeals Court ordered TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to divest TikTok by January 19th, or face a ban. Last Friday, Eastern Time, three judges from the U.S. Appeals Court ruled to uphold this decree.

TikTok Files Motion on the "Sell or Ban" Order

Yesterday, ByteDance submitted an emergency motion to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and warned that without a court injunction, the TikTok ban would take effect and lead to TikTok being shut down on the eve of the U.S. Presidential Inauguration (January 20th) — one of the most popular video platforms in the United States, serving more than 170 million domestic users per month.

TikTok has requested that the U.S. Appeals Court make a decision before December 16th. If the TikTok ban takes effect, it will deal a heavy blow to American businesses that rely on TikTok to drive sales. On its official website, TikTok stated that unless the TikTok ban is halted, small businesses on TikTok will lose over $1 billion in revenue within a month, and creators will lose nearly $300 million in income.

TikTok also warned that the court's decision would also disrupt services to tens of millions of TikTok users outside the United States and result in hundreds of U.S. service providers responsible for maintenance, distribution, and updates being unable to support the TikTok platform starting from January 19th.

Lawyers: The Trump Administration is Highly Likely to Overturn the Original Judgment

Lawyers representing ByteDance and TikTok have stated that there is a sufficiently high possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear this case and overturn the original judgment, thus necessitating a suspension of proceedings to allow for further deliberation.

The lawyers also pointed out that President-elect Trump has vowed to block the TikTok ban, and they believe that the court's postponement of the ban's enforcement will give the incoming administration time to determine its position.

Trump attempted to ban TikTok during his first term in 2020, but was unsuccessful. During this year's campaign, he promised that he would not allow a ban on TikTok.

Last Friday, Trump's nominee for the next National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, stated that Trump wants to address the TikTok issue. We absolutely need to allow the American people access to the app, but we must also protect our data.