US president-elect Donald Trump on Friday filed a brief urging the US Supreme Court to pause a law that would ban TikTok the day before his Jan. 20 inauguration if it is not sold by its Chinese owner ByteDance Ltd (字節跳動).
“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.”
Trump was fiercely opposed to TikTok during his first term from January 2017 to January 2021, and tried in vain to ban the video app on national security grounds.
Photo: AFP
The Republican voiced concerns — echoed by political rivals — that the Chinese government might tap into US TikTok users’ data or manipulate what they see on the platform.
US officials had also voiced alarm over the popularity of the video-sharing app among young people, alleging that its parent company is subservient to Beijing and that the social media program is used to spread propaganda, claims denied by 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, US President Joe Biden, went one step further — signing a law to ban the app for the same reasons.
Trump has now reversed course.
At a news conference last week, Trump said he has “a warm spot” for TikTok and that his administration would take a look at the app and the potential ban.
Earlier this month, the president-elect met with TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi (周受資) at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
Recently, Trump told Bloomberg he had changed his mind about the app.
“Now [that] I’m thinking about it, I’m for TikTok, because you need competition,” he said. “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 Platforms Inc empire, was among the social media networks that banned Trump after attacks by his supporters on the US Capitol on Jan. 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.
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.
A coalition of free speech groups — including the American Civil Liberties Union — also filed a separate brief to the Supreme Court opposing enforcement of the law, 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,” the rights groups’ filing read, in part.
The US apex court agreed last week to hear TikTok’s appeal against Biden’s move to force its owner to divest from it or face a ban.
With oral arguments scheduled for Jan. 10, the case would have to be heard at a breakneck speed.
TikTok argues that the law, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, contravenes its First Amendment free speech rights.
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