(NewsNation) — TikTok on Monday asked a federal appeals court to pause the Biden administration’s enforcement of a law banning the platform until the Supreme Court reviews its challenge.
This comes after a panel of three judges from The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously that the law withstood constitutional scrutiny on Friday.
Attorneys for TikTok and its parent company ByteDance said that even one month of the app being shut down would cause it to lose about a third of its daily users in the United States, as well as 29% of its total “targeted global” advertising revenue for next year. Talent would also be affected, they wrote, since employees would start looking for other places for jobs.
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“Before that happens, the Supreme Court should have an opportunity, as the only court with appellate jurisdiction over this action, to decide whether to review this exceptionally important case,” the filing by TikTok and ByteDance said.
More than 170 million Americans use TikTok, and over the years, it’s become a place not just for entertainment but also for influencers and small businesses to make huge profits.
The Department of Justice, meanwhile, says this is about protecting Americans from foreign adversaries, particularly China because of ByteDance’s connections to the country.
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Under the law signed by President Joe Biden in April, Byte Dance needs to divest in TikTok or else it will have to shut down by Jan. 19, 2025. If they don’t, it will be illegal to download TikTok and it will be taken away from app stores, leading to current users not getting crucial software updates.
For now, there’s no word on if the High Court will actually take the case and pause the law at least temporarily.
However, President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20, which could be a game-changer. Although he’s indicated in the past he wants to prohibit people from using TikTok, right now Trump said he doesn’t have plans to ban the app.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
