US President-elect Donald Trump submitted a brief on Friday requesting the Supreme Court to delay a law that would ban TikTok if its Chinese parent company ByteDance does not sell it before his January 20 inauguration.
“In light of the novelty and difficulty of this case, the court should consider staying the statutory deadline to grant more breathing space to address these issues,” Trump’s legal team wrote, to give him “the opportunity to pursue a political resolution.”
The Republican during his earlier term strongly opposed TikTok and tried to ban the application, citing national security concerns.
Trump expressed worries, shared by political opponents, about potential Chinese government access to American TikTok users’ information or manipulation of content displayed on the platform.
Additionally, American officials expressed concern regarding the application’s popularity amongst youth, suggesting its parent organisation answers to Beijing and utilises the platform for propaganda distribution. However, both TikTok and Chinese authorities rejected these allegations.
Trump also demanded that a US enterprise purchase TikTok, with government participation in sale proceeds. However, Joe Biden signed a law to ban the app for the same reasons.
Meanwhile, Trump has changed his stance and said he has “a warm spot” for TikTok. He indicated his administration would review the application and potential ban.
Earlier this month, the president-elect hosted TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
“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,” Trump said in a recent interview with Bloomberg.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta-owned Facebook was amongst social networks that prohibited Trump following his supporters’ assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. These restrictions on major social platforms were subsequently lifted.
A free speech advocacy group coalition, including the American Civil Liberties Union, submitted an additional brief to the Supreme Court opposing the law’s enforcement, citing freedom of expression issues.
“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,” stated the rights groups’ submission, partially.
The US Supreme Court recently accepted TikTok’s challenge against Biden’s directive requiring its owner to sell or face prohibition.
TikTok contends that the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act infringes upon its First Amendment rights.
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