Federal appeals court declines to pause looming TikTok sell-or-ban deadline

A federal appeals court on Friday rejected an attempt to delay a law that would ban the social media app TikTok next month if its parent company ByteDance does not sell it.

The federal appeals court upheld the law, which was signed by President Joe Biden in April, in a separate order last week. But TikTok asked the court to issue a temporary injunction on the ban while the company takes the case to the Supreme Court.

If ByteDance lines up a buyer by Jan. 19, Biden could approve a one-time extension of up to 90 days for the sale.

The D.C. Court of Appeals rejected the bid to delay the ban in an unsigned order on Friday, claiming that the delay was "unwarranted."

"The petitioners rely upon their claims under the First Amendment to justify preliminarily enjoining the Act," the order said. "As to those claims, this court has already unanimously concluded the Act satisfies the requirements of the First Amendment under heightened scrutiny."

The case comes amid concerns that the app could operate as an extension of the Chinese government, because ByteDance was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs. But the company has strongly denied being "owned or controlled by any government or state-controlled entity."

President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office next month, has vowed to "save" the social media app, which has about 170 million users.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.