TikTok is taking additional measures to avoid being forced out of the U.S. next month, with the company today filing for an emergency injunction, in order to stop the TikTok sell-off bill from taking effect on January 19th.
Late last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected TikTok’s bid to halt the sell-off bill on Constitutional grounds, with the court finding that the national security concerns around the app outweigh the implied Constitutional challenge.
That means that the TikTok sell-off push, which the U.S. Senate approved back in April, is now clear to go ahead, which means that TikTok’s parent company Bytedance either has to arrange the sale of its app to a U.S. company, or remove the app from the U.S. The current cut off date for TikTok to act is January 19th next year.
But today, TikTok has filed for an injunction in order to hold off the deadline until its appeal against last week’s decision can be heard by the Supreme Court.
As per TikTok:
“TikTok is, at its core, its 170 million American users. Estimates show that small businesses on TikTok would lose more than $1 billion in revenue and creators would suffer almost $300 million in lost earnings in just one month unless the TikTok Ban is halted. In 2023 alone, the advertising, marketing, and organic reach on TikTok contributed $24.2 billion, and TikTok’s own operations contributed an additional $8.5 billion to the U.S. GDP.”
TikTok has been pushing this angle for some time, that the impacts to the U.S. would be far greater than the benefits that America would gain from banning the app.
But it’s not a ban, as such. Again, TikTok is being asked to sell the element of its business that operates in the U.S. to an American-owned entity. TikTok claims that, in effect, this is a ban, because of the short turnaround time to arrange any handover, while at the same time, the Chinese Government has vowed to remove the app from the U.S., rather than give in to what it sees as an unfair U.S. government decree.
As such, it may well end up equating to a ban, and TikTok’s been pushing this angle throughout the year, in an attempt to increase support from its U.S. user base.
But to be clear, TikTok does have options that don’t result in a ban of the app, and its removal would be the result of TikTok opting not to adhere to the orders.
Also worth noting that its usage, or not, is not the crux of the U.S. Government’s case against the app, with “foreign adversary” concerns being the impetus for the sell-off push.
Interestingly, TikTok’s injunction filing suggests that a stay of execution would give the incoming Trump administration more time to assess its stance on the sell-off.
“An injunction is especially appropriate because it will give the incoming Administration time to determine its position – which could moot both the impending harms and the need for Supreme Court review.”
On the campaign trail, Trump had vowed to save the app if he was elected, which seemed like a blatant pitch to younger voters. But Trump’s actual avenues to halting a bill that’s already been approved by the Senate are limited, and as yet, the Trump transition team has offered no insight into how they might get rid of the sell-off bill.
But TikTok’s clearly looking to hold Trump to his word on this, and hoping that he can write off the bill entirely.
That seems unlikely, but there are ways that Trump could negate the bill, even if that would also undermine the Senate.
Essentially, there are no easy answers for TikTok, and unless Trump takes action, it does seem increasingly likely that the app will be forced out of the U.S. But maybe, court delays could offer more time, and once Trump is inaugurated in the new year, it might have more capacity to extend its stay.
Until Trump himself decides that he no longer likes it, that is.
