The law, signed early this year, requires TikTok’s owner ByteDance to sell the app by January 19. If not, it would face a ban in the US.
Three judges shot down ByteDance’s petition to overturn a law that could ban TikTok in the US. On Friday, The New York Times reported that the judges upheld the new law, which requires the company to sell the app to a non-Chinese company by January 19 or face a ban.
ByteDance argued that the law unfairly targets TikTok and that a ban would violate users’ First Amendment rights. The company has said a sale is impossible because the Chinese government would block it. In 2020, the country updated export control rules to give it more say over a potential transaction.
In a statement to Engadget, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said it was disappointed in the decision.
