ROCHESTER, N.Y. — TikTok is on trial. Its attorneys were in federal court on Monday, fighting for the survival of the app. The decision handed down by a panel of three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit could put TikTok out of business in the U.S. This could have a huge impact on consumers.

TikTok is much more than teenage entertainment. It’s a social media juggernaut. According to the company, 7 million small businesses in America use TikTok, generating $15 billion in revenue. And TikTok’s magic is its algorithm. That algorithm makes recommendations for users, effectively analyzing your interests to keep you hooked on the app.

The company that invented that algorithm is the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance. ByteDance is based in China. Here’s the problem. Chinese law requires any company based in China to help the government with any of its intelligence operations. A Chinese government official even sits on the board of ByteDance.

Monday in court, lawyers representing the U.S. government argued that Chinese ownership of TikTok could give the Chinese government, a U.S. adversary, access to a treasure trove of sensitive information about the millions of American users, identify Americans to spy on, even weaponize misinformation to de-stabilize American democracy.

News10NBC interviewed Suzy Loftus, TikTok’s Head of Trust and Safety who says the company has already taken steps to protect your data.                       

“One of the key things that we’ve done that is voluntary and unprecedented is to work with Oracle, an American company to store all U.S. user data for the last year and going forward,” said Loftus.  “So, we’re very proud of the investments we’re making in the thriving community in the U.S.”

But Congress says that’s not enough, voting overwhelmingly to ban TikTok in the U.S. if it doesn’t sell the company by January. In court Monday, TikTok’s lawyers argued that banning the app would affect the First Amendment rights of 170 million American consumers.

“We are fighting the ban in the courts,” said Loftus. “We believe it’s unconstitutional and frankly, half of America finds community and magic on TikTok – 7 million businesses. So, it would have a devastating impact on those Americans, and we’re fighting this ban in the courts.”

A federal appeals court in Washington listened to arguments by the attorneys for TikTok and the U.S. government for two hours Monday. Sometimes you can tell which way justices are leaning by the questions they ask.  I can’t predict this one. 

There’s no word on when the court might render a verdict, but the newly-passed U.S. bill says TikTok must be sold to new owners by Jan. 19 or it will be banned in the U.S. So we expect the court to hand down a decision before then.