After Australia's Social Media Ban, TikTok To Be Banned In US After Losing In An Appeals Court

Just over two weeks ago we reported that the Australian government introduced a bill to ban social media for users under the age of 16, with the intent of curbing the harmful effects of such platforms on children.

Last week, the Australian government passed that bill.

While the ban isn’t going to be implemented for another year, it will impact some of the biggest platforms, including TikTok, X, Instagram, Reddit, and Facebook. Of course, the move was met with skepticism by social media giants, who felt the government was rushing into the move and wasn’t considering the thoughts of the young people using them.

That’s not how governments around the world feel when it comes to social media being used by children.

At the same time, the Australian government recognized that some social media sites are used for educational purposes, which is why it’s believed that YouTube will be exempt from this move.

Numerous social networking platforms have been called up by legal authorities in the United States as well. This includes TikTok, which was sued by over a dozen (14) state Attorneys General for allegedly harming the mental health of children.

This added to the previous lawsuit that Facebook and Instagram owner Meta faced, when it was sued by 33 US states, including New York, California, Florida, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, Tennessee and Vermont.

However, it was worse for TikTok, as its parent company, ByteDance, has been at odds with the US government for a long time now. The reason cited by legal enforcers was that the platform posed a danger to the country and the data of its citizens.

As such, there remained a possibility of a potential ban in the country for TikTok, despite the social networking site’s numerous attempts to defend such a move. The other option it was provided was to break away from the Chinese-owned parent company.

The fate of that possibility has finally been decided, as The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a law that could lead to a ban.


This ban could go into effect as soon as next month and could see TikTok being banned by mid-January. While the law doesn’t specifically ban the platform, it imposes restrictions on Google’s Play Store, Apple’s App Stores and other application stores from distributing it.

The other option the company has is to diverge from its parent company.

An excerpt from the court’s opinion, written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg, read, “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States. Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.”

“Today’s decision is an important step in blocking the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

While TikTok’s official website didn’t provide detailed information about the verdict, its website did sport a short message for users that said, “The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans' right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue.”

“Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people.”

“The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025.”

The social media giant may be saved from this unfortunate fate if President-elect Donald Trump decides to step in, having voiced his thoughts about being against such a decision. Interestingly, in his first term, President Trump was in favor of blocking TikTok.

Do you think the US Appeals Court made the right decision to ban TikTok from the country or require it to sell the company to continue operating? Do you think the move silences users’ free speech?

Let us know in the comments below!