(Bloomberg) -- TikTok asked that a US law forcing a sale or ban of the app by China-based parent company ByteDance Ltd. be put on hold to give the US Supreme Court a chance to review.
A pause to the law will also give the incoming administration under President-elect Donald Trump time to determine its position, which could “moot both the impending harms and the need for Supreme Court review,” according to a filing on Monday to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit.
A pause will pose “no imminent threat to national security” or “material harm on the government,” according to the motion.
The government asked that the court quickly deny TikTok’s request.
The company’s request came after an appellate panel on Friday upheld the law, concluding that it didn’t infringe on free speech protections under the Constitution’s First Amendment. The court said that the government appeared to be justified in its concerns that China could use the app to gather information on US citizens or to push propaganda.
The law is set to take effect on Jan. 19, a day before Trump is inaugurated. Trump, who tried to force a sale of the app during his first term, has since spoken out against a ban as he tried to court younger voters on the campaign trail.
Americans have increasingly become dependent on TikTok, making a ban a hot button political issue. More than 170 million Americans use the platform as a source for news and entertainment, with many using it to help build small businesses. TikTok estimated that US small businesses would lose more than $1 billion in revenue if the app were to shut down for only a month.
In its filing, the company warned that shuttering “one of the nation’s leading speech platforms” would inflict “irreparable injury” by silencing users of the platform. A ban would also be devastating to TikTok’s business by making it difficult to attract advertisers and recruit talent, according to the court filing. The company estimated its target global advertising revenue for next year would experience a 29% loss if the app were banned for a month.
TikTok also argued that enough time should be given to let the incoming Trump administration address the situation. The company noted that the administration could pause enforcement of the law or “mitigate its most severe potential consequences.” The Act gives the president and the attorney general “broad discretion over the timing and implementation of its provisions,” according to the filing.
Matthew Schettenhelm, an analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote that the appeals court will probably deny TikTok’s request after it handed the company a “sweeping loss” that will be hard to overturn.
TikTok asked that the court decide on emergency relief no later than Dec. 16 to give the company enough time to seek a pause from the Supreme Court if necessary.
The company has enlisted top Supreme Court litigators to help with its case, including Noel Francisco, who was a solicitor general during the first Trump administration, and Andrew Pincus, a former assistant to the US solicitor general.
--With assistance from Greg Stohr.
(Updates with details on TikTok’s legal team.)
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