Donald Trump asks Supreme Court to delay TikTok ban to enable ‘political solution’

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Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to delay a legislative deadline that would force a sale or ban on TikTok, allowing for a “political solution” after the president is inaugurated next month.

Under a bill approved by Congress in April, Chinese parent ByteDance would have to divest TikTok: by January 19, 2025 – One day before Trump’s inauguration, or face a nationwide ban.

The law came after US officials warned that the platform posed national security risks, in part because ByteDance could force Beijing to share the personal data of the 170 million Americans who use the video app under Chinese law.

But Trump asked the high court to delay the deadline until it considers the merits of the case to give his next administration “an opportunity to pursue a political resolution of the case’s problematic issues,” filed Friday.

On the campaign trail before his re-election, Trump said he opposed the ban on the platform and promised to do so “save” the application.

The effort represents a reversal from 2020, when then-President Trump issued an executive order to block the app in the U.S. and gave ByteDance 90 days to divest itself of its U.S. assets and any data TikTok collected in the U.S. That order was blocked by the courts and ultimately overturned by US President Joe Biden, who later signed the law underlying the case.

The briefing says: “Only President Trump has the perfect deal-making experience, the electoral mandate and the political will to negotiate a resolution to salvage the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the administration, concerns that President Trump himself has acknowledged.”

The document added that Trump “takes no position on the values ​​underlying this dispute.”

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The request throws Trump, who will have no power over the Supreme Court as president, into the legal proceedings that will determine the fate of the popular app in the US.

The Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments in the case on January 10.

The brief comes after the Supreme Court decided earlier this month to hear TikTok’s appeal against a lower court’s decision to dismiss a challenge to the law, as well as its subsequent request to stay the measure pending further court proceedings.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia District upheld the law earlier this month, rejecting TikTok’s claim that it was unconstitutional and violated First Amendment free speech protections.