TikTok’s future in the United States is murkier than ever after a federal appeals court upheld a law last week that could force the app to sell its US operations or be banned as early as January 19. TikTok sued, claiming the law violated the First Amendment, but the justices sided with the Department of Justice, agreeing that the federal government has the authority to block or force a sale of TikTok if it poses a risk to national security—even a hypothetical one. (For years, US lawmakers have claimed that TikTok’s China-based owner, ByteDance, could use the app to spy on Americans or influence the content they see.)
The court’s
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