WASHINGTON — A lawyer for TikTok and Chinese parent company ByteDance sought on Sept 16 to convince a federal appeals court to block a US law that would ban the short video app used by 170 million Americans as soon as Jan 19, arguing that it violates free speech protections, but faced tough questions from the judges.

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard two hours of arguments in the lawsuit filed by TikTok and ByteDance in May seeking an injunction to prevent the law from taking effect.

Justice Department lawyer Daniel Tenny pressed the US government's stance that TikTok, under Chinese ownership, poses a national security threat because of its access to vast amounts of personal data on Americans, asserting that China can covertly manipulate information that Americans consume via the popular app.

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