TikTok faced significant challenges during its two-hour appeal against a nationwide ban before federal judges, with discussions centered on the platform's foreign ownership and constitutional rights under US law.

Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit highlighted that while restrictions on US-based companies would raise First Amendment concerns, this case specifically involves legislation targeting foreign-owned platforms from adversary nations.

Key points from the hearing:

• The US government's attorney, Daniel Tenny, emphasized that TikTok's code is developed in China
• TikTok's legal team countered that only "some of the code" originates from China, with significant content curation decisions made in the US
• The legislation specifically targets companies linked to designated adversary nations, with China being one of them
• Congress passed the law due to concerns about TikTok's Chinese ownership potentially enabling access to American users' data

The court is expected to reach a decision before the January 19 deadline set by the legislation, which was rapidly passed through Congress earlier this year.

The outcome remains uncertain as the court weighs the complex intersection of national security concerns and constitutional rights in this unprecedented case.

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