President-elect Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to allow him to negotiate a deal to save TikTok from an impending U.S. ban.
In a brief filed with the court, Mr. Trump said, “Once in office, he seeks the ability to resolve immediate issues politically,” adding, “Consummate transactional expertise, electoral mandates, political He is the only one who has the will.” This is to negotiate a resolution to preserve the platform. ”
The Supreme Court last week agreed to hear arguments that a bill passed by Congress to ban TikTok on national security grounds violates the First Amendment. The bill gives the president broad discretion to delay enforcement if progress is made toward an agreement that would prevent TikTok from being fully controlled by its Chinese parent company ByteDance.
However, the deadline for making that decision is January 19, the day before President Trump takes office.
In his petition to the Supreme Court, President Trump asked for an extension of the bill’s Jan. 19 deadline, saying the deal he would negotiate “represents here a historically difficult First Amendment This would eliminate the need for this court to decide the issue on the basis of an issue that is currently being advanced very quickly.” Basics. ”
He did not provide details on what the deal would look like, but it would likely involve ByteDance selling part of its ownership in TikTok to a U.S. company. .
With more than 14 million followers on TikTok and ownership of Truth Social, Trump said he “values TikTok’s importance as a unique medium of free expression, including core political speech.” He claims to have unique abilities. He also cited Brazil’s temporary ban on Elon Musk’s “X” as an example of the “historic danger posed” by governments banning social media platforms.
However, there is still a lot of political pressure to force a ban on TikTok. A group of senators and congressmen, including Mitch McConnell and Ro Khanna, filed a petition on Friday, joined by 22 U.S. states and former FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, asking the Supreme Court to ban TikTok. asked that the appeal be dismissed.