TikTok is currently facing several legal battles, but its fight in a federal appeals court is an existential one.
Critics of the law that gives TikTok a divest-or-leave ultimatum call it a “ban.” TikTok itself argues the U.S. government has not provided proof it is a national security risk warranting such heavy-handed measures. Lawmakers and the U.S. intelligence community, meanwhile, argue the app poses a grave threat to national security, if it remains in the hands of the Chinese communist regime.
On April 24, President Joe Biden signed into law the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), a law that requires apps controlled by foreign adversaries to sever that connection to operate in the United States. This created a countdown for China-based parent company ByteDance to sell off TikTok by Jan. 19, 2025. ByteDance and TikTok sued, arguing the law is unconstitutional on a First Amendment basis.
Congress introduced that bill in March and passed it with broad bipartisan support the same month. While onlookers noted the swiftness with which the bill became law, the United States had negotiated with TikTok for years before matters came to this point.
TikTok Goes to Washington
TikTok entered the U.S. and global markets in September 2017, and two months later, ByteDance acquired Musical.ly with its 200 million users and folded it into TikTok.
In 2019, the U.S. government contacted ByteDance by way of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and flagged national security concerns.
The committee has very specific authority—to review transactions with foreign investment on the basis of national security—and it was challenged as to whether it had authority to review the purchase of Musical.ly when it had occurred two years prior.
By July 30, 2020, CFIUS had completed a formal review and announced an investigation into ByteDance’s purchase of Musical.ly.
Two weeks later, President Donald Trump issued an executive order requiring ByteDance to divest from its American apps, namely TikTok. ByteDance sued, and the government lost on procedural grounds. The court questioned why an executive order was needed when CFIUS had yet to complete its investigation. The order was stayed, and the lawsuit was frozen.
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