Lawyers representing President-elect Donald Trump have asked the Supreme Court to suspend a law that would force TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the short-form video app or ban it in the United States.
If the app does not sell, the ban will go into effect in a few weeks, on January 19. ByteDance is challenging the constitutionality of the law, officially titled the Protecting Americans from Applications Controlled by Foreign Adversaries Act, before the Supreme Court. He is scheduled to hear arguments on January 10.
In a new presentationTrump’s lawyers describe the ban-or-sell deadline, which comes a day before his inauguration, as “unfortunate timing” that interferes with his “ability to manage U.S. foreign policy.”
The presentation does not specify what approach Trump might take on the issue, but states that “he is the only one who possesses the consummate experience in negotiating agreements, the electoral mandate and the political will to negotiate a resolution that saves the platform and at the same time timely address the national security concerns expressed. by the Government.”
The filing also notes that he currently has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, “allowing him to assess the importance of TikTok as a unique medium for freedom of expression, including core political speech.”
Supporters of the law have claimed that TikTok poses a national security threat because the Chinese government could use it to collect data and send propaganda to American viewers. While Trump attempted to ban TikTok during his first term as president, he more recently expressed support for the app. During his presidential campaign, he posted on Truth Social: “FOR EVERYONE WHO WANTS TO SAVE TIK TOK IN THE UNITED STATES, VOTE FOR TRUMP!”
Several civil liberties and free speech groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier, have submitted his own brief supporting TikTok’s appeal and arguing that “the government has not presented credible evidence of ongoing or imminent harm caused by TikTok.”