TikTok Seeks Emergency Injunction to Delay U.S. Sell-Off

TikTok has filed for an emergency injunction to delay the January 19th deadline for its U.S. sell-off mandate. This legal move comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals rejected TikTok’s earlier bid to block the sell-off law on constitutional grounds, citing national security concerns as justification for the legislation.

The sell-off mandate, approved by the U.S. Senate in April, requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. operations to an American-owned entity or face a potential ban. TikTok argues that the imposed timeline is insufficient for such a significant transaction, and has brought up the fact that removing the app would leave 170 million U.S. users without access to the platform – including countless business owners.

TikTok estimates a one-month ban could cost small businesses over $1 billion in revenue and creators nearly $300 million in earnings. The company also highlighted its broader economic contributions, claiming TikTok added $24.2 billion to U.S. advertising and marketing efforts in 2023, alongside $8.5 billion in direct contributions to the U.S. GDP. However, in a survey conducted earlier this year, almost a third of Americans supported the ban and only half actually actively opposed it.

A TikTok ban has been on the table for a while, but the chances of the platform remaining in the U.S. seem higher after the elections – Trump himself has expressed support for allowing TikTok to continue operating. However, the bill has already been approved, meaning that there could still be a major legal battle ahead of TikTok either continuing to serve the U.S. or being forced to exit the market entirely and focus on other countries.