WASHINGTON, Dec 11 (Reuters) - The Justice Department

late on Wednesday asked a U.S. appeals court to reject an

emergency bid by TikTok to temporarily block a law that would

require its Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest the

short-video app by Jan. 19 or face a ban.

TikTok and ByteDance on Monday filed the emergency motion

with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia

pending a review by the U.S. Supreme Court. They warned that

without court action the law will "shut down TikTok - one of the

nation's most popular speech platforms - for its more than 170

million domestic monthly users."

The Justice Department said the court should not delay the

law's effective date arguing "continued Chinese control of the

TikTok application poses a continuing threat to national

security."

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

DOJ said Wednesday if the ban takes effect on Jan. 19 it

would "not directly prohibit the continued use of TikTok" by

users who had downloaded TikTok but it conceded that the effect

of the prohibitions on providing support "will eventually be to

render the application unworkable."

On Friday, a three-judge panel of the appeals court upheld

the law requiring ByteDance to soon divest TikTok in the United

States face a ban in just six weeks.

The companies noted President-elect Donald Trump has vowed

to prevent a ban, arguing the delay "will give the incoming

administration time to determine its position."

The decision - unless the Supreme Court reverses it -

puts TikTok's fate first in the hands of President Joe Biden on

whether to grant a 90-day extension of the Jan. 19 deadline to

force a sale and then of Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20.

Trump, who unsuccessfully tried to ban TikTok during his

first term in 2020, said before the November presidential

election he would not allow the ban on TikTok.

The decision upholds the law that gives the U.S. government

sweeping powers to ban other foreign-owned apps that could raise

concerns about collection of Americans' data. In 2020, Trump

also tried to ban Tencent ( TCTZF )-owned WeChat, but was

blocked by the courts.