Appeal dismissed: US Federal Court rules that TikTok ban does not violate the First Amendment and should not be overturned

In April 2024, US President Joe Biden signed a law banning TikTok. The social network will be blocked on the territory of the United States, in case the Chinese company ByteDance does not sell it to any of the Americans.

Recall, the decision to ban TikTok in the United States is caused by the proven collection by the Chinese side of personal data of users of the platform and the dissemination of misinformation in the social network for propaganda purposes. ByteDance appealed, arguing that the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech, is violated, but the court was of a different opinion.

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A US federal appeals court ruled on Friday 6 December 2024 that TikTok's ban does not violate the First Amendment and should not be overturned.

Thus, ByteDance has until 19 January to sell TikTok, otherwise the app will be banned in the US.

It is noteworthy that Donald Trump, who previously actively advocated blocking TikTok in the US, changed his mind during his election campaign and publicly opposed such a decision. Perhaps his ascension to the presidency could change ByteDance's position, but even Trump will find it difficult to overturn the US Court of Appeals decision.

It was previously reported that former Activision Blizzard executive Bobby Kotick and OpenAI executive Sam Altman are interested in buying TikTok.

Source: Bloomberg