The threat of taking down TikTok, the world's most popular social media platform that consists of short videos where many creators often find stardom, is still alive and well.

According to the Associated Press, a federal appeals court panel upheld a law that could effectively end the platform as soon as January due to national security concerns. 

TikTok has been under the threat of a complete ban in the United States now for years, and the platform, which has some level of ties to the Chinese government, has spent considerable resources fighting for survival in the U.S.

Luckily for the company, its resources are deep and essentially never-ending given that it's not only one of the most popular out there, it pulls in mountains of revenue.

What's going on?

Speaking of resources, TikTok has spent plenty of money in its attempt to have the law that could ban the platform overturned once and for all.

The AP noted:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied TikTok’s petition to overturn the law — which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January — and rebuffed the company’s challenge of the statute, which it argued had ran afoul of the First Amendment.

The federal appeals court held nothing back in writing its decision on the matter.

"The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States," said the court’s opinion, which was written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg, according to the AP.

It added, "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."

TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes released a statement in the wake of the bombshell decision.

"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," Hughes said.

What happens now?

TikTok has until Jan. 19, one day until President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in, to sell to an American company or face a total ban.

However, some believe that Trump, who was once a proponent of banning the platform but now supports it and is against the ban, could throw the company some kind of lifeline.

Only time will tell how it plays out, but it'll definitely be interesting to see who takes what sides.