By Kanishka Singh and Nandita Bose
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President-elect Donald Trump has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to halt implementation of a law that would ban the popular social media app TikTok or force its sale, arguing he should have time after taking office to seek a “political resolution.” to the topic.
The court will hear arguments in the case on January 10.
The law would require TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, to sell the platform to an American company or face a ban. The US Congress voted in April to ban it unless ByteDance sells the app by January 19.
TikTok, which has more than 170 million users in the US, and its parent have sought to overturn the law. But if the court does not rule in its favor and no divestment occurs, the app could be effectively banned in the United States on January 19, a day before Trump takes office.
Trump's support for TikTok is a change from 2020, when he attempted to block the app in the United States and force its sale to American companies due to its Chinese ownership.
It also shows the company's significant effort to make inroads with Trump and his team during the presidential campaign.
“President Trump takes no position on the underlying merits of this dispute,” said D. John Sauer, Trump's lawyer who is also the president-elect's nominee for U.S. attorney general.
“Instead, I respectfully request that the Court consider postponing the Divestment Act's January 19, 2025 deadline while it considers the merits of this case, thereby allowing President Trump's incoming administration the opportunity to seek a resolution.” politics of the issues at issue in the case,” he added.
Trump previously met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew in December, hours after the president-elect expressed that he had a “warm point” for the app and was in favor of allowing TikTok to continue operating in the United States. United for at least a while.
The president-elect also said he had received billions of views on the social media platform during his presidential campaign.
TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The company has previously said that the Justice Department has misrepresented its ties to China, arguing that its content recommendation engine and its user data are stored in the United States on cloud servers operated by Oracle Corp. (NYSE:) while content moderation decisions that affect American users are also made in the United States.
Free speech advocates separately told the Supreme Court on Friday that the US law against TikTok evokes censorship regimes implemented by America's authoritarian enemies.
The US Department of Justice has argued that Chinese control of TikTok poses an ongoing threat to national security, a position supported by most US lawmakers.
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen led a coalition of 22 attorneys general on Friday to file an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to uphold national TikTok divestment or ban legislation.
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