TikTok asks for emergency block to US sale-or-ban law

TikTok has asked a US court for an emergency injunction to prevent its looming ban.

The social media company lost its bid to appeal the US law in a decision handed down on Friday.

Judges ruled in favour of the US government - saying it was the result of "extensive, bipartisan action" by lawmakers.

TikTok said in Monday's emergency filing that even a temporary ban from early 2025 would have "devastating effects" on its operations.

The US wants the app to be sold or banned in the US because of its owner's alleged links to the Chinese state.

TikTok and parent company Bytedance have repeatedly denied these links.

It said a ban would mean "one of the Nation's leading speech platforms will be shuttered".

This would be "inflicting irreparable injury by silencing Petitioners and the 170 million Americans who use the platform each month," the filing added.

The company reiterated its response to Friday's ruling, saying it believes the country's highest legal authority, the Supreme Court, will review it and uphold its argument.

The app should not face a ban in the interim, it argued.

"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," TikTok's filing to the US federal appeals court in Washington DC.

The company also said that even a temporary ban in the US could cause a loss of revenue, as well as of users and creators who make content for the platform.

TikTok shutting down for even a single month would see it lose approximately one-third of its US daily users it said, citing estimates.

According to the wording of the law, given President Joe Biden's stamp of approval as part of a broader foreign aid package in April, TikTok would stop being made available to US citizens unless sold by its parent company ByteDance within nine months.

The deadline would see TikTok effectively banned in the US from 19 January 2025.

In Monday's request for an emergency injunction, TikTok's lawyers argued the law would "inflict extreme and irreparable harm" on the company - adding it would do so "on the eve of a presidential inauguration".

President-elect Donald Trump will take office as the country's 47th president on 20 January.

He has previously said that he would not seek to enforce the ban on TikTok.

Ahead of the run-up to the November election, Trump said it would benefit Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.

But experts have warned that while his promises may offer a lifeline for the company's US future, they are no guarantee of the action he will take once in office.