On Friday, President-elect Donald Trump requested the Supreme Court to postpone any potential ban on TikTok until his administration can pursue a “political resolution” regarding the situation.
This appeal comes in light of TikTok and the Biden administration submitting conflicting briefs to the court. TikTok contended that the court should nullify a law that could result in the platform being banned by January 19, while the government argued that this law is crucial for addressing national security issues.
“President Trump is not taking a position on the fundamental issues of this case. Instead, he respectfully requests that the Court consider delaying the Act’s divestment deadline of January 19, 2025, while it assesses the case’s merits,” stated Trump’s amicus brief, which neither sided with TikTok nor the government, and was authored by D. John Sauer, his selected solicitor general.
This legal maneuver illustrates Trump’s ongoing involvement in national issues even before officially stepping into office. The Republican president-elect has already begun conversations with other countries regarding his tariff strategies and has recently engaged in discussions about federal government funding, advocating for a bipartisan approach as opposed to endorsing an existing plan.
As he shapes his administration, Trump has been meeting with foreign leaders and business leaders at his Mar-a-Lago resort, including a recent conversation with TikTok CEO Shou Chew.
Interestingly, Trump has altered his viewpoint on TikTok, having sought to ban the app during his previous term due to national security concerns. During his 2024 presidential campaign, he began utilizing TikTok to connect with younger voters, particularly young men, sharing content crafted to achieve viral status.
Earlier this year, Trump acknowledged that he still perceives potential national security threats associated with TikTok, yet he opposed an outright ban on the platform.
These recent legal filings coincide with upcoming oral arguments scheduled for January 10, which will consider whether the law requiring TikTok to sever ties with its Chinese parent company violates the First Amendment by unlawfully limiting free speech. This statute was enacted by President Joe Biden in April after receiving substantial bipartisan backing in Congress, prompting TikTok and ByteDance to challenge it legally.
A panel of three federal judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit recently upheld the law unanimously, prompting TikTok to escalate its appeal to the Supreme Court.
Trump’s brief signaled his disapproval of a TikTok ban at this juncture, advocating for a resolution through political dialogue once he assumes office.
In their brief submitted to the Supreme Court, attorneys for TikTok and ByteDance argued that the federal appeals court erred in its judgment, basing its ruling on hypothetical risks concerning possible Chinese influence over TikTok’s U.S. operations through foreign pressure.
The Biden administration has asserted in court that TikTok poses a national security threat due to its connections to China, claiming that Chinese authorities could compel ByteDance to share information about TikTok users in the U.S. or manipulate the platform to control information flow.
However, TikTok’s legal filing highlights that the government admits it has no evidence of any previous attempts by China to exert such control, emphasizing that U.S. concerns are primarily based on speculative future risks.
In its filing on Friday, the Biden administration noted that due to TikTok’s operational ties with ByteDance and its reliance on proprietary technology developed in China, its corporate structure inherently presents risks.
