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President Donald Trump has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to extend a legislative deadline to force a sale or ban on TikTok to allow for a “political solution” after he takes office next month.
Under a bill approved by Congress in April, Chinese parent company ByteDance must sell TikTok by January 19, 2025, the day before Trump’s inauguration, or face a nationwide ban. I will do it.
The bill would force ByteDance to share with the Chinese government the personal information of 170 million Americans who use video apps under Chinese law. It was enacted after U.S. authorities warned that the platform posed a national security risk.
However, according to the brief, President Trump asked the Supreme Court to suspend the deadline while it considers the merits of the case to give the incoming administration “an opportunity to pursue a political solution to the issues at issue in this case.” It is said that the request was made to Filed on Friday.
Trump said during his re-election campaign that he opposed banning the platform and promised to “save” the app.
The effort dates back to 2020, when then-President Trump issued an executive order blocking the app in the U.S. and gave ByteDance 90 days to sell its U.S. assets and data collected by TikTok in the U.S. means a U-turn. The order was blocked by a court and ultimately revoked by U.S. President Joe Biden, who later signed the law at the center of the lawsuit.
“Only President Trump has the impeccable deal-making expertise, electoral authority, and ability to preserve the platform while addressing the government’s stated national security concerns, concerns that President Trump himself has acknowledged,” the press conference said. “We have the political will to negotiate a resolution.”
The filing added that President Trump “has not taken any position on the fundamental merits of this dispute.”
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The request throws Trump, who has no presidential power over the Supreme Court, into the midst of a difficult legal process that will decide the fate of America’s favorite app.
The Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in the case for January 10th.
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The brief comes after the Supreme Court decided earlier this month to hear TikTok’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that rejected a challenge to the law and subsequent request to stay the action pending further court proceedings. It was announced later.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the law earlier this month, rejecting TikTok’s argument that it was unconstitutional and violated First Amendment protections for free speech.
