Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Sunday. I’m your host, Andrew J. Campa. Here’s what you need to know to start your weekend:

Perhaps no social media application more accurately provides insights into the daily lives, thought processes, ambitions and craziness/blandness of the average American than TikTok.

A quick scroll provides video posts on Thanksgiving dinner arguments, high school drama, random jokes and challenges and a whole lot of unsolicited singing.

It’s the accumulation of American data by a Chinese-owned platform that is at the center of a congressional push to ban the app.

TikTok’s future in the U.S. appears bleak after the app lost a major court battle Friday as it tries to prevent banishment.

My colleagues Wendy Lee and Andrea Chang provided an in-depth analysis on what steps are available for TikTok and legislators.

Why do legislators want to ban TikTok?

TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has faced scrutiny from U.S. government officials over how it handles user data here as well as its ties to China.

TikTok captures the attention of an estimated 150 million Americans monthly, roughly half of whom are active users, making it one of the most popular apps in the country — despite concerns about privacy, misinformation and harm to young users.

In April, President Biden signed into law a provision that allows for TikTok to be banned in the U.S. if it wasn’t sold within nine months, which is Jan. 19. Biden could grant a one-time extension of 90 days before then too.

Legislators backing the law said a ban or sale was necessary to address national security concerns posed by the app’s ties to China.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland welcomed the ruling on the ban, saying the court’s decision affirms that the TikTok legislation is consistent with the Constitution.

“Today’s decision is an important step in blocking the Chinese government from weaponizing TikTok to collect sensitive information about millions of Americans, to covertly manipulate the content delivered to American audiences, and to undermine our national security,” Garland said in a statement.

What’s the most recent update?

TikTok sued the government in May, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals to declare the law unconstitutional.

TikTok had said in its lawsuit that the law violated its 1st Amendment rights to free speech. The company contended that the law “offers no support for the idea” that its Chinese ownership poses national security risks.

“On the merits, we reject each of the petitioners’ constitutional claims,” Judge Douglas Ginsburg wrote in the court’s decision issued Friday.

“The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” Ginsburg wrote. “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.”

What would a ban mean?

A blockage of TikTok could affect the livelihoods of many Southern California video creators who post content on the platform and make a lot of money doing so.

Small businesses rely on TikTok to tout their products and video creators have moved to L.A. to be closer to its Culver City office. The company employs roughly 500 people in Culver City, according to city data.

What’s the next step?

Legal experts expect TikTok will appeal its case to the Supreme Court.

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

President-elect Donald Trump, who campaigned on supporting TikTok, could also offer aid.

Once Trump is in the White House, he has a couple of options.

He could attempt to sway Congress to modify or repeal the law; instruct his administration to not enforce the law; or direct the Department of Justice to not defend the government in TikTok’s lawsuit if it goes to the Supreme Court.

“Ultimately, the President’s options may be limited,” said Anthony Rapa, a Washington, D.C.-based partner and co-chair of law firm Blank Rome’s international trade practice.

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Column One

Column One is The Times’ home for narrative and longform journalism. Here’s a great piece from this week:

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Questions about that day come year-round but nothing like November and December. The answers have grown into stories, now briefer than before but still mostly complete. Details sometimes get jumbled, but no one complains. For 100, everyone says, Bob Fernandez is doing great. “You can tell my story if you want,” he says, “but sometimes I’m not all here.”

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For your weekend

(Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph from Peden + Munk)

Going out

Staying in

L.A. Affairs

Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.

(Alyah Holmes / For The Times)

She was a sophomore at Scripps College in Claremont when she first entered a mosque as a volunteer tutor. She had never met a Muslim, but ran into a fetching and dark-haired curly fellow female volunteer. Their attraction was as instant as the realization that a relationship wouldn’t work for either of their conservative worlds. Yet, they text-flirted over a month, fell in love and explored Los Angeles together. Would their love last or would obstacles prove too difficult to overcome?

Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team

Andrew J. Campa, reporter
Carlos Lozano, news editor

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