TikTok set to be banned in the US after losing appeal

TikTok's bid to overturn a law which would see it banned or sold in the US from early 2025 has been rejected.

The social media company had hoped a federal appeals court would agree with its argument that the law was unconstitutional because it represented a "staggering" impact on the free speech of its 170 million US users.

But the court upheld the law, which it said "was the culmination of extensive, bipartisan action by the Congress and by successive presidents".

TikTok says it will now take its fight to the US Supreme Court, the country's highest legal authority.

The US wants TikTok sold or banned because of what it says are its owner's links to the Chinese state - links TikTok and parent company Bytedance have always denied.

The court agreed the law was "carefully crafted to deal only with control by a foreign adversary, and it was part of a broader effort to counter a well-substantiated national security threat posed by the PRC (People's Republic of China)."

Despite unsuccessfully attempting to ban TikTok in 2020, TikTok said in the run-up to the November elections he would not allow the ban on TikTok to take effect.

Source: BBC