Attorneys for TikTok and its parent firm ByteDance will face the Justice Department on Monday in a Washington courtroom on the future of a bill that may outlaw the popular short video app, which is used by 170 million Americans, as early as January 19.
Oral arguments will be presented on a legal challenge brought by TikTok and its Chinese parent firm ByteDance, which wants an injunction to prevent the law from going into force, before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
According to TikTok and ByteDance, the rule is unlawful and infringes upon Americans’ right to free expression. They describe it as “a radical departure from this country’s tradition of championing an open Internet.”
The legal challenges made by TikTok and users against the statute, which gives ByteDance until January 19 to sell or divest TikTok’s U.S. assets or risk a ban, will be considered by Circuit Judges Sri Srinivasan, Neomi Rao, and Douglas Ginsburg.
Just a few weeks after it was presented, the U.S. Congress enacted the bill withoverwhelming support in April, motivated by concerns expressed by senators that China may use the app to spy on or access data on Americans.
If Biden determines that ByteDance is much closer to a sale, he may decide to extend the deadline until January 19 by three months.
The outcome of the hearing may determine TikTok’s future over the last few weeks of the presidential campaign.
In an effort to win over younger voters, vice president Kamala Harris and Republican presidential contender Donald Trump are both active on TikTok.
According to the Justice Department, TikTok, which is owned by China, presents a major risk to national security as China has access to a large amount of American personal data and can secretly alter content that Americans view on the app.
