China-based ByteDance and its short-video app TikTok asked an appeals court on Monday to temporarily block a law that would require parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok by Jan. 19 or face a ban in the United States. pending review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The companies filed the emergency petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, warning that without the order, the law will go into effect and “shut down TikTok – one of the country’s most popular voice platforms – because of its more than 170 million domestic users.” monthly users on the eve of the presidential inauguration.”

On Friday, a three-judge appeals court panel upheld the law requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok in the U.S. by early next year or face a ban in just six weeks.

The companies’ lawyers said the prospect of the Supreme Court taking up the case “and the consideration is high enough to justify the temporary pause needed to allow time for further deliberations.”

The companies also noted that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to prevent a ban, arguing the delay will “give the new administration time to determine its position – reflecting both the impending harm and the need for one.” Supreme Court review.”

TikTok also warned Monday that the court ruling would disrupt “services to tens of millions of TikTok users outside the United States.” The app says that as of January 19, hundreds of US service providers that enable maintenance, distribution and updates will no longer be able to provide support for the TikTok platform.

The Justice Department said the appeals court should quickly deny TikTok’s request “to maximize the time available for the Supreme Court to consider ByteDance’s and TikTok’s petitions.”

TikTok asked the appeals court to decide on the application by December 16th.

The decision – unless the Supreme Court overturns it – puts TikTok’s fate initially in the hands of President Joe Biden, who will decide whether to grant a 90-day extension of the Jan. 19 deadline to force a sale , and then into the hands of Trump, who takes office January 20. However, it’s not clear whether ByteDance can bear the heavy burden of demonstrating that it has made significant progress toward the divestiture necessary to trigger the extension.

Trump, who unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok in his first term in 2020, said before the November presidential election that he would not allow TikTok to be banned.

Trump’s new national security adviser Mike Waltz told Fox Business Network on Friday that Trump “wants to save TikTok.” We absolutely need to give the American people access to this app, but we also need to protect our data.”

The decision upholds the law that gives the U.S. government broad powers to ban other foreign-owned apps that could raise concerns about the collection of American data. In 2020, Trump also tried to ban Tencent-owned WeChat, but was blocked by the courts.