President-elect Donald Trump has requested the US Supreme Court to place a hold on a law that could either ban the widely-used social media platform TikTok or compel its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its ownership. Trump argues that he requires time after his inauguration to seek a “political resolution” to the matter.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case on January 10.
The contested legislation mandates that ByteDance must sell TikTok to an American entity or face a potential ban. In April, Congress passed a measure stipulating that TikTok would be prohibited unless the company completes a sale by January 19.
TikTok, which boasts over 170 million users in the US, along with its parent company, has initiated legal efforts to overturn the law. However, should the court rule against them and no sale occurs, the app could be banned in the United States on January 19, just one day prior to Trump assuming office.
This shift in Trump’s stance toward TikTok marks a significant departure from his 2020 efforts, where he sought to terminate the app’s operations in the US and compel its sale due to concerns surrounding its Chinese ownership.
Furthermore, this change highlights TikTok’s strategic efforts to build a relationship with Trump and his administration during the recent presidential campaign.
“President Trump does not take a position on the underlying merits of the case,” stated D. John Sauer, an attorney representing Trump and his appointee for US solicitor general.
“He respectfully requests that the Court consider postponing the Act’s divestment deadline of January 19, 2025, while it reviews the case’s merits, allowing the incoming administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution,” he added.
Trump previously engaged with TikTok’s CEO, Shou Zi Chew, in December, shortly after expressing his favorable impression of the app and indicating a preference for it to continue operating in the United States for at least some time.
The president-elect noted that he garnered billions of views on the platform during his campaign.
TikTok has yet to respond to requests for comments on this matter.
The company has asserted that the US Justice Department has misrepresented its connections to China, claiming that its content recommendation engine and user data are housed in the US on Oracle Corp-operated cloud servers, and that decisions on content moderation affecting US users are made domestically as well.
Separately, free speech advocates presented arguments to the Supreme Court on Friday, stating that the US legislation targeting TikTok mirrors censorship practices employed by authoritarian regimes.
The US Justice Department contends that Chinese control of TikTok represents an ongoing national security risk, a view echoed by a majority of US lawmakers.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen spearheaded a coalition of 22 state attorneys general on Friday, filing an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to uphold the national legislation that calls for either the divestiture or prohibition of TikTok.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
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