United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed on Friday with an earlier ruling in favor of the US government in a case against TikTok. The court confirmed the government can require TikTok's owner, the Chinese tech company ByteDance Ltd., to divest the social media app by January 19 or face its closure in the US on national security grounds.
The court noted its decision has "significant implications" for TikTok and its users. However, it said the responsibility for the ruling lies with the Chinese government's "hybrid commercial threat to US national security." It also pointed out that the US government "engaged with TikTok through a multi-year process in an effort to find an alternative solution." Finally, the court said the US government acted to protect freedom of speech from a "foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data" of US citizens.
