The TikTok brief type video internet hosting service emblem is seen on a cell system on this illustration picture taken in Warsaw, Poland on 17 July, 2024.
Jaap Arriens | Nurphoto | Getty Photographs
The U.S. Division of Justice requested the Supreme Court docket late on Friday to reject President-elect Donald Trump’s request to delay implementation of a regulation that will ban common social media app TikTok or power its sale by Jan. 19.
Final week, Trump filed a authorized temporary arguing he ought to have time after taking workplace on Jan. 20 to pursue a “political decision” to the difficulty. The courtroom is ready to listen to arguments within the case on Jan. 10.
The regulation, handed in April, requires TikTok’s Chinese language proprietor, ByteDance, to divest the platform’s U.S. belongings or face a ban. TikTok didn’t instantly remark.
The DOJ mentioned in its submitting that Trump’s request may solely be granted if ByteDance had established it was more likely to succeed on the deserves however the firm had not accomplished so.
DOJ mentioned nobody disputes China “seeks to undermine U.S. pursuits by amassing delicate knowledge about People and interesting in covert and malign affect operations.”
The federal government asserted that “nobody can critically dispute that (China’s) management of TikTok by ByteDance represents a grave menace to nationwide safety: TikTok’s assortment of reams of delicate knowledge about 170 million People and their contacts makes it a robust instrument for espionage.”
Trump lawyer D. John Sauer wrote final week the president-elect “respectfully requests that the Court docket contemplate staying the Act’s deadline for divestment of January 19, 2025, whereas it considers the deserves of this case, thus allowing President Trump’s incoming administration the chance to pursue a political decision of the questions at situation within the case.”
TikTok on Friday urged the Supreme Court docket to dam the regulation on free-speech grounds below the First Modification of the U.S. Structure. It mentioned Congress had not sought to ban Chinese language-owned apps like Shein or Temu, which strongly suggests “it focused TikTok for its social-media content material, not its knowledge.”
If the courtroom doesn’t block the regulation by Jan. 19, new downloads of TikTok on Apple AAPL.O or Google GOOGL.O app shops could be banned however present customers may proceed to entry the app. Companies would degrade over time and finally cease working as firms will likely be barred from offering assist.
Biden may lengthen the deadline by 90 days if he certifies ByteDance is making substantial progress towards a divestiture.
Trump’s assist for TikTok is a reversal from 2020, when he tried to dam the app in the US and power its sale to American firms due to its Chinese language possession.
