TikTok is moving closer to a ban in the United States after a new law that could lead to a ban was unanimously upheld by a panel of federal judges.

Given that 170 million Americans use TikTok, this decision will be a death knell for the app in one of its largest markets.

Judges at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected TikTok’s request to strike down the law.

By law, the app’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, must sell the app to a non-Chinese company by January for TikTok to operate in the United States. This comes amid increasing concerns that TikTok, under ByteDance, could pose a national security risk.

Lawmakers and officials have said the Chinese government was accessing and using sensitive information about Americans from the app and spreading propaganda, although there is no public evidence of this. It is also interesting that the Chinese government has banned Facebook and YouTube in China and TikTok is not allowed there.

The app has put free speech at the center of the debate and raised concerns among content creators and influencers whose income depends on it. The American Civil Liberties Union said the decision was “a major blow to free speech online” and sets dangerous precedents for other foreign-owned platforms.

TikTok will appeal to the Supreme Court and expects a different result on the matter, although there is no guarantee that the Supreme Court will accept the decision.

“The Supreme Court has a long history of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect it will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” TikTok spokesman Michael Hughes said. He also said that the ban was a “total censorship of the American people” and that it was “based on inaccurate, erroneous and hypothetical information.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland says the ruling is “an important step in preventing the Chinese government from using TikTok as a weapon.”

Additionally, President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly supported the app, but the law will take effect the day before his inauguration. According to the New York Times, some experts are speculating that Trump could ask his new attorney general to refrain from enforcing it, which in turn could put Apple and Google in a sticky situation since the law requires companies that sell TikTok in their stores to be exempt from it those affected will be punished.

In any case, Trump had said in September: “For everyone who wants to save TikTok in America, vote for Trump” and said that a TikTok ban would only help Meta and Mark Zuckerberg, whom he called “an enemy of the people.” holds”. But given his restrictive stance towards China, anything is possible.

Trump currently has 14.6 million followers on TikTok.