Donald Trump asks the Supreme Court to pause a law that threatens to ban TikTok in the US

US President-elect Donald Trump will officially take office on January 20, but the fate of the social network TikTok in the US could be decided a day earlier, and if the Chinese ByteDance does not separate its American business, TikTok in the US could be banned. Trump is ready to counter this through the courts.

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At the very least, as Bloomberg reports, the future US president has asked the Supreme Court to pause the law passed by the Biden administration, according to which TikTok’s US assets must be divested by January 19. According to Trump, the court should give him some time after the inauguration on January 20 to find an acceptable solution to the fate of the social network in the United States following the negotiations. The president-elect refrained from directly assessing the compliance of this law with US constitutional norms, but expressed concern about its potential impact on freedom of speech in the country.

In his appeal to the US Supreme Court, Trump said he “has the unrivaled deal-making skills, voter support and political will to find a solution to salvage the platform while addressing the national security concerns raised by the government.” Donald Trump did not explain what the deal would be with the owners of TikTok; he also did not specify the time frame that would be required to conclude it.

The court will have to hear arguments from interested parties in this case on January 10, and as early as January 19, the law banning TikTok in the United States could come into force if the Chinese ByteDance does not sell its local part of the business. According to Trump, a pause in the consideration of the case will help the court make a more informed decision in the future. Trump administration officials insist that the collection of data on tens of millions of Americans through TikTok provides potential ill-wishers with a tool to influence the country’s citizens. Representatives of TikTok said that the ban on freedom of speech is the last resort that the American government should resort to.

Initially, Trump also supported the idea of ​​​​banning TikTok in the United States, but his attitude warmed up this month after he analyzed the activity of his electorate on this social network. The president-elect met with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew at his US residence in December. During his first term as president, Trump proposed selling TikTok’s regional business to an American company. The president-elect considers a potential ban on TikTok in the United States to be a dangerous precedent in the area of ​​banning freedom of speech at the level of an entire platform. A group of American content creators for TikTok also opposes such a move.