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Attorneys representing President-elect Donald Trump have asked the Supreme Court to pause a law that would force TikTok-owner ByteDance to sell the short-form video app or see it banned from the United States.
If the app isn’t sold, the ban is set to take effect in just a few weeks, on January 19. ByteDance is challenging the constitutionality of the law — officially titled the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act — with the Supreme Court scheduled to hear arguments on January 10.
In a new filing, Trump’s lawyers describe the ban-or-sell deadline, coming one day before his inauguration, as “unfortunate timing” that interferes with his “ability to manage the United States’ foreign policy.”
The filing does not specify what approach Trump might take to the issue, but it claims that he “alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the Government.”
The filing also notes that he currently has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, “allowing him to evaluate TikTok’s importance as a unique medium for freedom of expression, including core political speech.”
The law’s supporters have claimed TikTok presents a national security threat because the Chinese government could use it to collect data and push propaganda to US viewers. While Trump attempted to ban TikTok during his first term as president, he has expressed support for the app more recently. During his presidential campaign, he posted on Truth Social, “FOR ALL OF THOSE THAT WANT TO SAVE TIK TOK IN AMERICA, VOTE TRUMP!”
Several civil liberties and free speech groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier, have filed their own brief supporting TikTok’s appeal and arguing that “the government has not presented credible evidence of ongoing or imminent harm caused by TikTok.”
Anthony Ha is TechCrunch’s weekend editor. Previously, he worked as a tech reporter at Adweek, a senior editor at VentureBeat, a local government reporter at the Hollister Free Lance, and vice president of content at a VC firm. He lives in New York City.
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