TikTok files an emergency pause request for its US ban

The deadline set by the “anti-TikTok” bill signed by Joe Biden in April is dangerously approaching, and the company is running out of options. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, attempted to appeal the law. However, the court judges dismissed the arguments presented last week. Now, TikTok is requesting an emergency pause to the US ban, citing a potential “irreparable injury.”

TikTok requests an emergency pause on its potential US ban

TikTok’s emergency injunction, filed on Monday, claims that shutting down the platform’s operations in the United States would “inflict extreme and irreparable harm.” The firm not only cites harm to themselves but also to the “petitioners and the 170 million Americans who use the platform each month.”

Another of TikTok’s arguments to defend the emergency pause to the US ban is that the bill will take effect “on the eve of a presidential inauguration.” The anti-TikTok law says ByteDance must sell its US TikTok operations by January 19 or cease operations in the country. Donald Trump will take over the White House on January 20.

“The public interest favours providing sufficient time for the Supreme Court to conduct an orderly review process, and for the incoming Administration to evaluate this exceptionally important case,” reads the filing by ByteDance and TikTok. The company’s intentions to appeal the law to the Supreme Court could also be in vain due to the short time left until the deadline.

Donald Trump could help save TikTok, but time is short

TikTok has Trump as a potential wildcard in the midst of the complex situation. The new president of the United States has expressed his intentions to “save TikTok” from the ban. He claims that the law would only benefit social platforms owned by Meta. Meta owns Instagram, whose Reels feature is a direct competitor to TikTok in the short video segment.

That said, things could get complicated if the law goes into effect before Trump takes office. That’s why TikTok believes that an emergency pause would be most appropriate, allowing the new president enough time to take action if he sees fit. Also to give enough time to the appeal process before the Supreme Court.

The DOJ wants the court to reject request

On the other hand, the DOJ urges the appeals court to also reject the emergency pause request. “The Court is familiar with the relevant facts and law and has definitively rejected petitioners’ constitutional claims in a thorough decision that recognizes the critical national-security interests underlying the Act,” the response document says.

The outcome of the emergency pause in the law will play a crucial role in the TikTok case. Things are looking increasingly grim for the platform’s permanence in the United States. The judges rejected the company’s previous appeal on national security grounds. They said 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).” The controversy over the alleged hacking campaign from China against US telecoms probably doesn’t help ByteDance either.