Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Written by Kanishka Singh and Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump has urged the United States Supreme Court to halt implementation of a law that would have banned the popular social media app TikTok or forced its sale, he said he must have time after taking office to pursue a “political solution”. matter.
The court is set to hear arguments in the case on January 10.
The law would require TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the platform to an American company or face a ban. The US Congress voted in April to ban it unless ByteDance sells the device by January 19.
TikTok, which has more than 170 million US users, and its parent have called for the law to be overturned. But if the court does not give a verdict in their favor, and no division occurs, the device could be banned in the United States on January 19, one day before Trump takes office.
Trump’s support for TikTok is a change from 2020, when he tried to ban the app in the United States and force it to be sold to American companies because of its Chinese ownership.
It also shows the company’s massive efforts to engage with Trump and his team during the presidential campaign.
“President Trump is taking no position on the underlying causes of this controversy,” said D. John Sauer, Trump’s lawyer who is also the president’s nominee for US attorney general.
“Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider suspending the Act’s deadline for removal on January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case, thereby allowing the administration President Trump’s next opportunity to pursue a political solution to the issues involved in the case,” he added.
Trump met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in December, hours after the president-elect said he had a “warm spot” for the app and would like to let TikTok continue. to work in the United States at least part-time.
The president-elect also claimed to have received billions of views on social media platforms during his presidential campaign.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company previously said the Department of Justice misrepresented its ties to China, arguing that its content recommendation engine and user data were stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by Oracle Corp (NYSE:) when content analysis decisions affecting US users are made in the United States.
Free speech advocates told the Supreme Court on Friday that the US law against TikTok evokes censorship regimes imposed by powerful enemies of the United States.
The US Department of Justice has argued that China’s control of TikTok poses a continuing threat to national security, a position supported by many US lawmakers.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen led a group of 22 attorneys on Friday in filing an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to uphold the state’s TikTok diversion or ban law. .
