Trump Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Delay TikTok Ban Implementation

Donald Trump, the elected President of the United States, has requested the Supreme Court to postpone the decision regarding the TikTok ban, which is set to take place one day before his inauguration, to give his administration a chance to pursue the matter. Trump's legal team submitted an urgent bill to the Supreme Court on Friday, January 7, emphasizing that he has no position on the core issues of the case and requested the delay. The bill also noted the 'novelty and complexity of this case' and asked the court for additional legal time to create space for consideration and to allow the new administration 'an opportunity to pursue a political solution.' According to a congressional resolution signed into law by Joe Biden, the Chinese company ByteDance, which owns TikTok, has until January 19, 2025, to either sell it or face a ban on the use of the social media platform in the United States. However, TikTok has sued the U.S. Supreme Court over this law, claiming it violates free speech and contradicts the U.S. Constitution. During his first term, Donald Trump was strongly opposed to TikTok, viewing it as a national security issue due to the potential use of American user data by China or manipulation of content on the platform. He called for an American company to buy TikTok, with the government also covering part of the price. Several political figures and members of Congress have warned in recent years that the Chinese company that owns this social media platform uses it as a tool for propaganda and government advertising; both the company and the Chinese government have denied these claims. TikTok is one of the three most popular social media platforms among American teenagers and is estimated to have around two billion active users globally.