A federal appeals court has rejected TikTok’s lawsuit over an imminent forced sale or nationwide ban of the hugely popular app in the United States, but the company could soon ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

Friday’s decision by the Washington DC-based appeals court agreed with the Justice Department, which argued that the federal government had the authority to restrict or ban the app on the grounds that it allegedly posed a national security risk to its China-based parent company ByteDance submits the Americans open their data or manipulate what they see.

TikTok argued that the ban violated its users’ First Amendment protections, but the three-judge panel agreed that the government had “presented compelling evidence” that a law passed by Congress to potentially ban the app was “close “tailored to protect national security.” ”

The Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden earlier this year, gave ByteDance about nine months to sell the platform or face a nationwide ban.

“Approximately 170 million Americans use TikTok to create and view all forms of free expression and to engage with each other and the world,” the justices wrote in Friday’s 65-page decision. “And yet, in part because of the platform’s broad reach, Congress and multiple presidents have decided that removing it from (the Chinese government’s) control is essential to protecting our national security.”

TikTok is expected to ask the country’s highest court for an opinion.

“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,” the platform said in a statement.

“Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was designed and enforced based on inaccurate, erroneous and hypothetical information, resulting in complete censorship of the American people,” the statement continued.

ByteDance has until January 19th to comply.

That’s a day before Donald Trump’s inauguration, setting up a potential showdown between the president-elect and the Supreme Court with a new administration likely to try to block the law from taking effect. However, it’s unclear what his options look like in this timeline.

During the campaign, Trump appeared to change his stance on the app, which he had previously supported banning. During his first term in 2020, he had issued an executive order banning the platform, but the company successfully challenged the order in court.

“I got to the point where I could have done it if I wanted to,” he told MSNBC’s Squawk Box on March 11. “There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who would go crazy without it. There are many users.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Friday’s decision was “an important step in preventing the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok to collect sensitive information about millions of Americans, secretly manipulating the content delivered to American audiences and damaging our national undermining security.”

Deputy Attorney General Lis Monaco added that the ruling reaffirms that the government’s attempts to restrict the platform “were never about restricting free expression, but rather about breaking the ties that TikTok has with the regime.” Bind Beijing.”

“This law protects Americans from the national security risks posed by the current ownership of TikTok in a manner consistent with the Constitution,” she said.