TikTok fighting uphill battle to reverse sell-or-ban law in US, legal experts say

On Monday, TikTok and its Chinese parent ByteDance filed an emergency motion to stop the US sell-or-ban law from taking effect on January 19

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Published: 9:00pm, 10 Dec 2024

ByteDance-owned TikTok is facing an uphill battle in the US to overturn a law that requires it to sell the American operations of its popular short video platform by January 19 or be banned in the country’s app stores, analysts said.

TikTok has pledged to keep up its legal battle and is waiting on a review by the US Supreme Court after a federal appeals court last week upheld the law, but the chances of the ruling being reversed are slim, according to analysts.

“It would be quite a miracle if the US Supreme Court takes a controversial case and makes a decision to reverse the appeal court’s [decision] in less than 50 days, which includes the Christmas season,” said Winston Ma, an adjunct professor at New York University’s School of Law.

On Monday, TikTok and its parent ByteDance filed an emergency motion to stop the sell-or-ban law from taking effect on January 19, a day before president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Kangda Law Firm lawyers Zhou Zhengping and Yang Mukun wrote in an article that the appellate court’s decision to uphold the law “reflects a high level of concern about national security”.

“National security may in some cases override the rights protected by the First Amendment,” they wrote in the article published on the firm’s WeChat account on Monday. “While the First Amendment protects the freedom of speech and information flow, courts have generally been more lenient in cases involving national security.”

TikTok has repeatedly said that it would not carry out a divestment.