Trump Asks Supreme Court to Pause TikTok Ban Regulation
US President-elect Donald Trump filed a brief Friday seeking the Supreme Court to halt a regulation that will prohibit TikTok the day before his January 20 inauguration if it is not sold by its Chinese owner, ByteDance.
“In light of the novelty and difficulty of this case, the court should consider staying the statutory deadline to give more breathing space to address these issues,” Trump’s legal team said, giving him “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution.”
During his first term from 2017 to 2021, Trump was vehemently opposed to TikTok and unsuccessfully attempted to ban the video app on national security grounds.
The Republican expressed concerns, which were shared by political rivals, that the Chinese government may access US TikTok users’ data or alter what they view on the platform.
US officials had also expressed concern about the video-sharing app’s appeal among young people, suggesting that its parent business is subservient to Beijing and that the program is used to propagate propaganda, charges disputed by both the company and the Chinese government.
Trump called for a US company to buy TikTok, with the government sharing in the sale price, and his successor Joe Biden went one stage further — signing a law to ban the app for the same reasons.
– Reversing course.
Trump has now altered direction.
At a press conference last week, Trump stated that he has “a warm spot” for TikTok and that his government will look into the app and potential ban.
Earlier this month, the president-elect met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
Trump recently told Bloomberg that he had changed his opinion about the app, saying, “Now (that) I’m thinking about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition.”
If you don’t have TikTok, you have Facebook and Instagram — and that’s, you know, that’s Zuckerberg.”
Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg and part of his Meta tech empire, was among the social media networks that banned Trump after attacks by his supporters on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The ban was driven by concerns that he would use the platform to promote more violence.
Those bans on major social media platforms were later lifted.
– ‘Unprecedented’ –
In the brief filed on Friday, Trump’s lawyer made it clear the president-elect did not take a position on the legal merits of the current case.
“President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute,” John Sauer wrote in the amicus curiae — or “friend of the court” — brief.
“Instead, he respectfully requests that the court consider staying the act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, while it considers the merits of this case, thus permitting President Trump’s incoming Administration the opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the questions at issue in the case.”
A coalition of free speech groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, filed a separate brief with the Supreme Court contesting the law’s enforcement, citing censorship concerns.
“Such a ban is unprecedented in our country and, if it goes into effect, will cause a far-reaching disruption in Americans’ ability to engage with the content and audiences of their choice online,” according to the rights groups’ brief.
The US Supreme Court agreed last week to hear TikTok’s case against Biden’s decision to force its owner to divest or face a ban.
With oral arguments slated for January 10, the case would have to proceed at dizzying pace.
TikTok argues that the law, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, violates its First Amendment free speech rights.
AFP, among more than a dozen other fact-checking organizations, is paid by TikTok in several countries to verify videos that potentially contain false information.
AFP
