In a court filing on Dec. 9, the platform mentioned a breach of First Amendment rights, challenges in talent retention, and additional issues.
On Monday (Dec. 9), TikTok submitted an emergency injunction to the federal appeals court to temporarily stop a law requiring ByteDance to sell the app by Jan. 19, 2025, or risk a ban in the United States.
The platform asserts it would face “irreparable harm,” while small creators and businesses would forfeit more than $1 billion in income and profits in only one month. “In 2023, the advertising, marketing, and organic reach on TikTok generated $24.2 billion, while TikTok’s operations added another $8.5 billion to the U.S. GDP,” the company stated on social media.
The court filing indicated that “if the platform is no longer accessible in the United States, numerous existing and potential users and creators in the U.S. and overseas will shift to rival platforms,” presumably alluding to Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. TikTok anticipated a loss of nearly one-third of its daily users in the U.S. within a month and identified retaining talent, especially software engineers, as a significant hurdle if the ban is implemented.
In another context, ByteDance contended that the prohibition would infringe upon First Amendment rights. “Being one of the leading speech platforms in the United States, TikTok is utilized by ordinary citizens, businesses, and politicians — notably, during the latest presidential election, by both primary party candidates [Kamala Harris and Donald Trump] to engage with American voters.”
Attorneys representing the firms are requesting that the appeals court reach a ruling by Dec. 16 to “allow time to pursue emergency relief from the Supreme Court if needed.” The U.S. government is anticipated to reply by Wednesday (Dec. 11), while TikTok and ByteDance will provide their response by Thursday (Dec. 12).
TikTok’s submission came after the U.S. Court of Appeals chose to maintain a law requiring the app to be sold to a company outside of China or to start the process of divesting its ownership. “Regrettably, the TikTok ban was created and implemented based on incorrect, defective, and speculative information,” the company stated, according to REVOLT.
