Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
TikTok is not done fighting after a federal appeals court upheld the sale-or-ban law last week.
The big picture: TikTok on Monday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to temporarily halt the law pending a review by the Supreme Court.
- The clock is ticking for the app as a new administration and Congress prepare to take control of Washington.
State of play: TikTok has until Jan. 19, the day before President-elect Trump takes office, to find a new parent company or the app will be banned in the U.S.
- TikTok's request for the court to temporarily block the law "will give the incoming Administration time to determine its position — which could moot both the impending harms and the need for Supreme Court review," TikTok and its parent company ByteDance said in a filing.
- The companies are asking for a decision no later than Thursday.
The Department of Justice has until Wednesday to file any response, according to the filing.
- Throughout the case, DOJ has argued TikTok's ties to China pose national security threats because of Beijing's potential access to Americans' sensitive data and power over an algorithm that could disseminate influence campaigns.
Threat level: Without a pause, the company said the law "will inflict extreme and irreparable harm" on TikTok's 170 million users, "destroy TikTok's ability to attract advertisers; and cripple Petitioners' ability to recruit and retain talent."
Our thought bubble: If the ban takes effect, users are likely to feel that impact more slowly.
- Those who don't have the app downloaded would not be able to get it as app stores and cloud service providers would be required to stop hosting the app or face penalties.
- People who already have the app would not be able to update it and it would likely slowly deteriorate.
- The app may also continue to be accessible to Americans using a VPN.
Companies like Apple and Oracle will have to determine if it's worth it to keep hosting TikTok and potentially face $5,000 civil penalties for each user still on the app.
Trump has flip-flopped on whether or not he supports a ban.
- The most legal certainty for companies would come with congressional repeal of the law, which Trump could try to pressure the Republican-controlled Congress to do.
- Trump could also ask the attorney general not to enforce the law.
- "But if I were a Silicon Valley general counsel, this would not fill me with confidence, both because Trump is very mercurial and also because hosting TikTok or distributing its app would still involve breaking the law," University of Minnesota law professor Alan Rozenshtein said in a recent Lawfare article.
