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Donald Trump has requested the US Supreme Court docket to delay a legislative deadline that will pressure a sale or ban of TikTok to permit for a “political decision” as soon as he’s sworn in as president subsequent month.
Underneath a invoice Congress authorized in April, Chinese language mother or father ByteDance should divest TikTok by January 19 2025 — the day earlier than Trump is inaugurated as president — or face a national ban.
The laws got here after US officers warned the platform posed nationwide safety dangers, partly as a result of ByteDance may very well be compelled to share the private data of the 170mn People who use the video app with Beijing underneath Chinese language regulation.
However Trump has requested the highest court docket to place the deadline on maintain whereas it considers the deserves of the case to be able to give his incoming administration “the chance to pursue a political decision of the questions at concern within the case”, in line with a short filed on Friday.
On the marketing campaign path earlier than his re-election, Trump mentioned he opposed the platform’s ban and promised to “save” the app.
Efforts to take action characterize a U-turn from 2020, when then-president Trump issued an government order to dam the app within the US and gave ByteDance 90 days to divest from its American belongings and any knowledge that TikTok had collected within the US. That order was blocked by the courts and in the end revoked by US President Joe Biden, who later signed the regulation on the coronary heart of the case.
The briefing mentioned: “President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking experience, the electoral mandate, and the political will to barter a decision to save lots of the platform whereas addressing the nationwide safety issues expressed by the federal government — issues which president Trump himself has acknowledged.”
The submitting added Trump “takes no place on the underlying deserves of this dispute”.
TikTok didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The request throws Trump, who as president wouldn’t have authority over the Supreme Court docket, in the midst of fraught authorized proceedings that may resolve the destiny of the favored app within the US.
The highest court docket has scheduled oral arguments within the case for January 10.
The transient comes after the Supreme Court docket earlier this month determined to listen to TikTok’s attraction towards a lower-court ruling that rejected its problem to the regulation, in addition to its subsequent request to halt the measure pending additional court docket proceedings.
The US Court docket of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit earlier this month upheld the regulation, rejecting TikTok’s declare that it was unconstitutional and violated First Modification protections at no cost speech.
