Federal appeals court blocks push to delay January TikTok ban

A federal appeals court in Washington denied a request from the social platform TikTok that would effectively delay the ban of the app next month.

The rejection comes after the company sought to stop the ban Monday, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to temporarily block the law that could ban the app next month from going into effect Jan. 19 as it prepares to appeal to the Supreme Court.

In response to a request for comment, a TikTok spokesperson said the app is prepared to take the case to The Supreme Court.

"As we have previously stated, we plan on taking this case to the Supreme Court, which has an established historical record of protecting Americans' right to free speech. The voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world will be silenced on January 19th, 2025 unless the TikTok ban is halted," the spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The rule was signed into law in April and requires TikTok to break ties with ByteDance, its China-based parent company, before the deadline next month or it will be banned in the U.S. Some lawmakers have already told Apple and Google to prepare for the app's removal.

The app had argued that the injunction, which would have paused the ban from taking effect, would “permit the Supreme Court to consider this case in a more orderly fashion” and “give the incoming Administration time to determine its position on this exceptionally important matter.”

The Justice Department also asked the court to reject TikTok's bid to stop the ban.

Although the request was ultimately denied, TikTok can still turn to the Supreme Court since it asked the appeals court to make a decision by Monday and will still have time to file a motion with the high court to block the law from taking effect.

On Friday, TikTok seemed hopeful in turning to the Supreme Court, saying in a statement Friday the court has “an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue.”