Appeals court upholds TikTok ban

Contributed A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Dec. 6, 2024, upheld a law requiring TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell the video app by Jan. 19, 2025, or face a nationwide ban on the app. The court rebuffed TikTok’s claim that the law violates its First Amendment rights. The appeals court ruling is the latest development in a lengthy saga over the fate of an app that is widely popular, especially among young Americans, but that many politicians in Washington say is a security risk. The ruling is unlikely to be the end of the story. TikTok is expected to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, though the court could refuse to hear the appeal. President-elect Donald Trump has reversed his earlier support for banning the app under its current ownership and stated during his 2024 presidential campaign that he would “save” the app, though he has not said how he would attempt to do so. But why is TikTok controversial? Are the claims of it being a national security risk valid? And what will the case mean for free speech? The Conversation’s contributors have been on...