The prospect of a US ban on social media platform TikTok in January remains a realistic possibility following a federal court ruling to uphold the conditions of its continued operations in the States.

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. struck down TikTok’s petition to review the law, which would prohibit the platform’s use in its current state before its scheduled nationwide ban begins on January 19.

TikTok was given an ultimatum by the US government to sell its shares owned by Chinese company Byte Dance on the premise of potential security concerns.

TikTok sued the federal government in an effort to halt the procession of a ban in U.S. app stores.
TikTok argued the ban infringes on the company’s First Amendment rights and divesting from ByteDance is “not possible technologically, commercially, or legally,” while the government maintained the ban was essential for national security—though the specific evidence to justify that is under seal and was not publicly released, as per Forbes.

The court, however, sided with US lawmakers that their rights to free speech was not violated noting the new law doesn’t target any specific speech on the platform.

The ruling also noted if TikTok just divested itself from ByteDance, the “new owners could circulate the same mix of content as before without running afoul of the Act”. Therefore, the proposed ban is aimed at “ending foreign adversary control, not content censorship.”

Following Friday’s ruling, the timer remains ticking away on the prospect of arguably the most influential platform within the social media space could be a memory in the come the new year.