The TikTok quick type video internet hosting service brand is seen on a cell gadget on this illustration photograph taken in Warsaw, Poland on 17 July, 2024.
Jaap Arriens | Nurphoto | Getty Photos
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 might ban widespread 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 problem. 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 might solely be granted if ByteDance had established it was more likely to succeed on the deserves however the firm had not completed so.
DOJ mentioned nobody disputes China “seeks to undermine U.S. pursuits by amassing delicate knowledge about Individuals and interesting in covert and malign affect operations.”
The federal government asserted that “nobody can severely dispute that (China’s) management of TikTok by ByteDance represents a grave risk to nationwide safety: TikTok’s assortment of reams of delicate knowledge about 170 million Individuals and their contacts makes it a strong software for espionage.”
Trump lawyer D. John Sauer wrote final week the president-elect “respectfully requests that the Court docket take into account 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 beneath 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 might proceed to entry the app. Providers would degrade over time and ultimately cease working as corporations will probably be barred from offering assist.
Biden might prolong 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 corporations due to its Chinese language possession.
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