The Chinese social network Tiktok, popular in the US and widely used especially among young people, has been hit by a legal challenge to stop a possible ban or forced sale. The District of Columbia Federal Court of Appeal of the United States of America justified the legal pressure put forward by the US government against Tiktok and rejected the challenge submitted by Tiktok.

The decision of the Biden administration is being prepared to be implemented at the beginning of 2025. This will directly affect nearly 170 million TikTok users in the US. The court interpreted the US government's decision as a carefully prepared step to address risks associated with national security.

Although Tiktok argued that this ban would adversely affect the freedom of expression of American citizens, the court supported it as a measure taken to avoid foreign influence and especially China's potential security risk, saying that it was a consensus decision between the legislators of the two major parties.  

Tiktok has announced that it will not give up on this court decision and will take this case to the Supreme Court of the United States and further counter the decision of the American government. "The Supreme Court has always protected the free speech rights of American citizens, and we are confident that it will do the same on this important question," a TikTok spokesperson said. He has also claimed that the US ban is based on misleading and fabricated information.

If there is a ban on Tiktok in the current situation, analysts have pointed out the possibility of major fluctuations in the market with the intention that it will have a deep impact on the social network sector . They argue that when the decision of the ban is implemented, it will directly benefit the new American competitors along with Meta (Facebook, Instagram) and Snapchat. Jasmine Enberg, an analyst at eMarketer, told the BBC that the ban could seriously damage content creators and small and medium-sized businesses that run through TikTok.

However, the upcoming presidential change in the near future may bring a new twist to this issue. Donald Trump, the former president and who is going to re-enter the White House from January, tried to ban TikTok in his first term, but the court stopped it. In recent days, he has indicated that this ban will not be implemented. However, according to experts such as Professor James Grimmelman of Cornell University, if Trump takes such a step, he may face strong opposition from the two major parties. He says, 'At a time when anti-China sentiment is becoming very high in America, some regions and states also do not like Tiktok being so popular in their area.' 

TikTok creator Tiffany Cianci said she was not surprised by Friday's decision and was determined not to force other creators like her to move to other platforms. Likewise, market analyst Corey Johnson told the BBC that Tiktok's complex AI system could not be easily replicated by other platforms, and the censorship content creators face and the control over their content users have attracted many American creators to Tiktok.