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President-elect Donald Trump on Friday urged the Supreme Court to pause a law that could ban TikTok nationwide starting Jan. 19 if its Chinese owner doesn’t sell the popular social media app to an American company.
In a 25-page amicus brief filed with the court, Trump asked the justices to stay the Jan. 19 deadline — which is one day before Inauguration Day — so his administration could “pursue a negotiated resolution” that would “obviate the need” for the justices to rule on the case.
“President Trump alone possesses the consummate dealmaking expertise, the electoral mandate, and the political will to negotiate a resolution to save the platform while addressing the national security concerns expressed by the Government — concerns which President Trump himself has acknowledged,” the brief stated.
TikTok and its parent company, China-based ByteDance, appealed to the Supreme Court last week after lower courts rejected its challenge to the law. The justices agreed to hear the challenge and set oral arguments in the case for Jan. 10.
The law at the center of the case — called the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act — stems from bipartisan concerns that the Chinese government could access data about American users.
TikTok argues the law violates free speech rights under the First Amendment for its roughly 170 million American users.
In his brief on Friday, Trump said he takes “no position on the merits of the dispute.” Instead, he suggested he intends to personally negotiate a resolution that focuses on “preserving the First Amendment rights of tens of millions of Americans, while also addressing the government’s national security concerns.”
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew met with Trump at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last week, NBC News reported, citing a source familiar with the plans.
During a press conference earlier that day, Trump said he has a “warm spot” for TikTok and said his team would “take a look” at the app and the possible ban it faces.
TikTok and the Justice Department also filed briefs in the case on Friday, reiterating their respective arguments on the matter.