U.S. court upholds TikTok divestiture law, leaving fate to Trump

Ruling means app will 'effectively' be unavailable after Jan. 19, barring extension

20241206N TikTok

TikTok's attempt to block the sell-or-ban order against the video app operator has been denied by a U.S. appeals court.   © Reuters

PAK YIU and YIFAN YU, Nikkei staff writers

NEW YORK/PALO ALTO, U.S. -- A U.S. court on Friday threw out TikTok's challenge to the government's sell-or-ban order just over a month before the deadline for compliance, potentially leaving the platform's future in the hands of President-elect Donald Trump.

U.S. federal appeals court Judges Sri Srinivasan, Neomi Rao and Douglas Ginsburg denied legal challenges brought by TikTok and users against a law that forces the Chinese owner, ByteDance, to either divest its stake in the social media app or have its U.S. operations banned in the country, with a deadline of Jan. 19.

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