ByteDance, TikTok seek to pause U.S. ban pending Supreme Court review

ByteDance and its short-video app TikTok on Monday asked an appeals court to temporarily block a law that would require that parent company ByteDance divest TikTok by January 19 or face a ban, pending a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The companies filed the emergency motion with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, warning that without the order the law would take effect and would "shut down TikTok – one of the nation's most popular speech platforms – for its more than 170 million domestic monthly users on the eve of a presidential inauguration."

On December 6, a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld the law requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok in the United States by early next year or face a ban in just six weeks.

Lawyers for the companies said the prospect the Supreme Court will take the case "and reverse is sufficiently high to warrant the temporary pause needed to create time for further deliberation."

The companies also noted President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to prevent a ban, arguing the delay "will give the incoming administration time to determine its position – which could moot both the impending harms and the need for Supreme Court review."

The Justice Department said the appeals court should quickly deny the request "to maximize the time available for the Supreme Court's consideration" of petitions from ByteDance and TikTok.

TikTok asked the appeals court to decide on the request by December 16.

The decision – unless the Supreme Court reverses it – puts TikTok's fate in the hands of first President Joe Biden on whether to grant a 90-day extension of the January 19 deadline to force a sale and then of Trump, who takes office on January 20.

TikTok also warned on Monday the court ruling would interrupt "services for tens of millions of TikTok users outside the United States." The app said hundreds of U.S. service providers that enable maintenance, distribution and updating would not be able to provide support for the TikTok platform starting January 19.