The attorneys for President-elect Donald Trump have petitioned the US Supreme Court to temporarily block a ruling that could force ByteDance, owner of popular social media platform TikTok, to divest its ownership of the app or risk having it banned in the United States.
If the app isn’t purchased by the specified deadline, the ban will come into effect within just a few weeks, scheduled for January 19. ByteDance challenges the constitutionality of the Defending People from Overseas Adversary Managed Purposes Act before the Supreme Court.
Trump’s lawyers characterized the looming deadline for banning or selling his assets as “unfortunate timing” that undermined his ability to effectively manage US foreign policy in its early stages.
The submission lacks clarity on the approach Trump would take, yet asserts that he alone possesses the requisite expertise, electoral authority, and political will to broker a deal resolving the national security concerns while preserving the platform.
The submitter also observes that his current 14.7 million TikTok followers allow him to assess the platform’s importance as a new medium for free expression and fundamental political discourse.
Supporters of the regulation argue that TikTok poses a nationwide security threat, citing concerns that the Chinese government could exploit the platform to collect sensitive information and disseminate propaganda to American audiences. Although President Trump initially attempted to ban TikTok during his first term, he has recently revisited the issue. During his presidential campaign, Trump took to Reality Social to post a message urging voters to support him in order to “save TikTok in America,” saying “FOR ALL OF THOSE THAT WANT TO SAVE TIKTOK IN AMERICA, VOTE TRUMP!”
Civil liberties and free speech organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Digital Frontier, are backing TikTok’s legal defense, pointing out that the federal government lacks convincing evidence of ongoing or imminent harm caused by the platform.
