President-elect Donald Trump’s attorneys have requested the Supreme Court to halt a law that would compel TikTok-owner ByteDance to sell the short-form video app or face a ban in the United States.
The ban is set to go into effect on January 19 if the app is not sold. ByteDance is challenging the constitutionality of the law, officially known as the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, with the Supreme Court set to hear arguments on January 10.
In a recent filing, Trump’s lawyers refer to the ban-or-sell deadline, which falls one day before his inauguration, as “unfortunate timing” that hampers his “ability to manage the United States’ foreign policy.”
The filing does not specify Trump’s strategy regarding the issue but asserts that he “alone has the expertise in dealmaking, the electoral mandate, and the political determination to negotiate a solution to preserve the platform while addressing the national security concerns raised by the Government.”
The filing also mentions that Trump currently has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, giving him the ability to assess TikTok’s significance as a unique platform for freedom of expression, including crucial political speech.
Supporters of the law argue that TikTok poses a national security risk because the Chinese government could use it to gather data and disseminate propaganda to US users. While Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term, he has recently shown support for the app. During his presidential campaign, he posted on Truth Social, “FOR ALL OF THOSE THAT WANT TO SAVE TIK TOK IN AMERICA, VOTE TRUMP!”
Various civil liberties and free speech organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier, have submitted their own brief in support of TikTok’s appeal, arguing that “the government has not provided credible evidence of ongoing or imminent harm caused by TikTok.”
