President-elect Donald Trump today met with TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, to discuss the app being banned in the U.S. over security risks.
Prior to the meeting, Trump said at a press conference he had “a warm spot” for the Chinese app, saying, “We’ll take a look” at what might be done about the ban. The company lost an appeal earlier in December, claiming that banning TikTok would cause “irreparable harm” to its 170 million users in the U.S.
Partway through 2024, President Joe Biden signed legislation that stated the ban would take effect unless its parent company ByteDance Ltd. sold itself off by Jan. 19. The bill had bipartisan support, although it’s not clear where Trump stands right now. During his first term, he wanted to ban the app but later said he intended to “save” it.
Today, TikTok also filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court asking for a temporary injunction that would at least delay the deadline for the ban. Trump is scheduled to be sworn in the next day.
“The Act will shutter one of America’s most popular speech platforms the day before a presidential inauguration,” TikTok’s lawyers wrote in the application. “This, in turn, will silence the speech of Applicants and the many Americans who use the platform to communicate about politics, commerce, arts, and other matters of public concern.”
Statement on Filing Application for Emergency Injunction Pending Appeal with the Supreme Court:
“”The Supreme Court has an established record of upholding Americans’ right to free speech. Today, we are asking the Court to do what it has traditionally done in free speech cases:…
— TikTok Policy (@TikTokPolicy) December 16, 2024
The lawyers further argued that blocking the law from taking effect would give the incoming administration “time to determine its position, as the president-elect and his advisors have voiced support for saving.” They also claimed they would need time “to coordinate with their service providers to perform the complex task of shutting down the TikTok platform only in the United States.”
It’s looking like TikTok is hoping Trump will save the day, the man who had earlier told reporters that he “won youth by 34 points, and there are those that say that TikTok had something to do with it.”
Photo: Unsplash
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