TikTok has reportedly urged the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to issue an emergency injunction ahead of a pending ban of the social media channel in the country.

TikTok hasn’t yet been banned in the US but the company is facing significant challenges after a recent court ruling upheld a law that could lead to TikTok being banned or sold by January 19, 2025.

The main issues revolve around its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and the fear that the Chinese government could access sensitive data on American users, and potentially influence public opinion. As a result, lawmakers from both major US political parties have called for ByteDance to sell Tik Tok to a non-Chinese company.

According to a report by the BBC, TikTok and ByteDance submitted a legal request to temporarily block the law to give the Supreme Court more time to consider the matter.

The news broadcaster said that TikTok and ByteDance argue that an injunction is justified by the fact that Donald Trump will soon become the new president and replace Joe Biden, which could lead to the law being overturned.

"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," ByteDance and TikTok said in their emergency legal filing, adding that the ban would have “devastating effects” on its operations and on Americans who use the platforms to create content for profit.

The emergency document went on to say that the law was "carefully crafted to deal only with control by a foreign adversary, and it was part of a broader effort to counter a well-substantiated national security threat posed by the PRC (People's Republic of China)."

On Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a motion to dismiss the application, stating that the underlying arguments have already been “conclusively rejected”. The judge panel from the US court of appeals for the DC Circuit also rejected the suggestion that the bill was unconstitutional saying it was the result of “broad bipartisan lawmakers’ action.”

"The Court is familiar with the relevant facts and law and has definitively rejected petitioners' constitutional claims in a thorough decision that recognises the critical national-security interests underlying the Act," the judges argue.

Donald Trump, whose presidency will begin on 20 January, recently stated that he plans to “save TikTok” from the impending ban.

Trump pledged to oppose the ban during his election campaign despite having pushed for its implementation during his first term as president.

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